Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Solicitor-General how many letters to the Law Officers from hon. Members in session (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are (i) one month old, (ii) two months old, (iii) three months old, (iv) four months old and (v) over six months old.

Mike O'Brien: From 2004 (a) no letters are outstanding.
	From 2005 (b) the figures are: (i) none; (ii) one; (iii) none; (iv) one; (v) one.
	The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members/Peers correspondence. The Report for 2004 was published on 6 April 2005 (col. 137–40ws).

Domestic Violence

Denis MacShane: To ask the Solicitor-General what guidelines on Government policy on domestic violence the Crown Prosecution Service followed before making its decision to drop criminal charges relating to an alleged assault on Ms Annajoy David Da-Bora by her former partner and the abduction of her daughter.

Mike O'Brien: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) policy on domestic violence is set out in its policy booklet, published November 2001 and updated in February this year, entitled "Policy for Prosecuting Cases of Domestic Violence".
	The guidance contained within the booklet was fully considered and applied to the decision-making process in this case. In so doing, particular reference was made to the detrimental effect that continuing the prosecution would have had upon Ms Da-Bora's daughter.
	In this case, the proper application of the CPS's domestic violence policy and the Code for Crown Prosecutors meant that the prosecution could not proceed. This decision and the reasons for it were subsequently explained in writing to Ms Annajoy David Da-Bora.

"Security, Terrorism and the UK" Report

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has read the report, "Security, Terrorism and the UK", jointly published by the Economic and Social Research Council and Chatham House.

John Reid: Yes.

Armed Forces (Overseas Personnel)

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) servicemen and (b) servicewomen serving in the UK armed forces are from overseas; what nations are represented in each of the services; in what numbers; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The numbers of servicemen and servicewomen serving in the UK armed forces who have a nationality other than British are shown by country in the following table.
	
		Male UK regular forces with nationality other than British -- Number
		
			 September 2005(5) All services(4) Naval services Army RAF 
		
		
			 Total recorded non-British  nationality(6) 6,400 430 (8)5,805 (10)165 
			  
			 Country 
			 Antigua (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Australia 100 20 70 10 
			 Bahamas (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Bangladesh 5 (14)— 5 (13)— 
			 Barbados 20 5 10 (14)— 
			 Belize 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Botswana 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Cameroon 20 (13)— 20 (13)— 
			 Canada 100 20 60 20 
			 Cyprus (14)— (14)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Dominican Republic 10 (14)— 10 (13)— 
			 Egypt (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Eire 305 55 200 50 
			 Falkland Islands (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Fiji 1,880 60 1,820 (14)— 
			 Gambia 75 (14)— 70 (14)— 
			 Germany(6) (14)— (14)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Ghana 570 (14)— 565 (14)— 
			 Gibraltar (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Grenada 45 (14)— 45 (13)— 
			 Guyana 15 (13)— 15 (13)— 
			 India 45 5 40 (14)— 
			 Jamaica 795 15 760 20 
			 Kenya 95 5 85 (14)— 
			 Malawi 75 (14)— 70 (14)— 
			 Malaysia 10 (14)— 5 (14)— 
			 Malta 10 (14)— 5 (14)— 
			 Mauritius 20 (13)— 20 (14)— 
			 Montserrat (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Namibia (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Nepal 25 (13)— 25 (13)— 
			 New Zealand 80 10 60 (14)— 
			 Nigeria 50 (14)— 50 (13)— 
			 Other African country (14)— (13)— (13)— (14)— 
			 Other Asiatic country (14)— (13)— (13)— (14)— 
			 Pacific Islands (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Pakistan 10 (14)— 10 (14)— 
			 Papua New Guinea (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Seychelles 10 (13)— 10 (13)— 
			 Sierra Leone 35 (13)— 35 (13)— 
			 Singapore (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 South Africa 655 55 595 5 
			 Sri Lanka(7) 15 (13)— 10 (14)— 
			 St. Christopher (14)— (13)— (13)— (14)— 
			 St. Helena 20 (14)— 20 (14)— 
			 St. Kitts (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 St. Lucia 195 (14)— 190 (14)— 
			 St. Vincent 380 105 270 (14)— 
			 Swaziland 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Switzerland (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Tanzania (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Tonga 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 80 15 60 10 
			 Uganda 35 (13)— 35 (13)— 
			 Ukraine (14)— (14)— (13)— (13)— 
			 United Arab Emirates 10 10 (13)— (13)— 
			 USA 5 (14)— (14)— (14)— 
			 West Indies (14)— (14)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Zambia 15 (14)— 15 (13)— 
			 Zimbabwe/Rhodesia 500 10 485 10 
			 Other non-British(8) , (5041050010) 20 (13)— 15 (14)— 
			 Not recorded 625 530 20 (11)70 
		
	
	
		Female UK regular forces with nationality other than British -- Number
		
			 September 2005(5) All services(4) Naval services Army RAF 
		
		
			 Total recorded non-British  nationality(6) 750 60 (9)655 40 
			  
			 Country 
			 Antigua (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Australia 10 10 (14)— (14)— 
			 Bahamas (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Bangladesh (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Barbados (14)— (14)— (14)— (14)— 
			 Belize (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Botswana (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Cameroon (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Canada (14)— (13)— (14)— (14)— 
			 Cyprus (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Dominican Republic (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Egypt (14)— (13)— (13)— (14)— 
			 Eire 25 5 10 10 
			 Falkland Islands (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Fiji 160 10 145 (14)— 
			 Gambia (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Germany(6) (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Ghana 20 (13)— 20 (13)— 
			 Gibraltar (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Grenada 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Guyana (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 India (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Jamaica 230 10 220 5 
			 Kenya 10 (13)— 10 (14)— 
			 Malawi 10 (13)— 10 (13)— 
			 Malaysia (14)— (13)— (13)— (14)— 
			 Malta (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Mauritius (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Montserrat (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Namibia (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Nepal (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 New Zealand 5 (13)— 5 (14)— 
			 Nigeria 5 (13)— 5 (13)— 
			 Other African country (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Other Asiatic country (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Pacific Islands (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Pakistan (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Papua New Guinea (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Seychelles (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Sierra Leone (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Singapore (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 South Africa 55 (14)— 55 (14)— 
			 Sri Lanka(7) (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 St. Christopher (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 St. Helena 10 (13)— (14)— 5 
			 St Kitts (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 St. Lucia 35 (13)— 35 (13)— 
			 St. Vincent 40 25 15 (13)— 
			 St. Vincent (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Switzerland (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Tanzania (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Tonga (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 15 (14)— 10 (14)— 
			 Uganda (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 Ukraine (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 United Arab Emirates (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 USA (13)— (13)— (13)— (13)— 
			 West Indies (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Zambia (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Zimbabwe/Rhodesia 90 (14)— 85 (13)— 
			 Other non-British(9) (14)— (13)— (14)— (13)— 
			 Not recorded 85 70 5 (12)10 
		
	
	(4) Naval service and Army data are for UK Regular Forces (trained and untrained), including nursing services and excluding full-time reserve service personnel, Gurkhas, the home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists. Naval service figures are for UK regular forces including nursing services, FTRS and activated reservists.
	(5) Naval service data are provided by AFPAA as data are not centrally held. Data are for personnel serving at 3 October 2005. Army data are provided by DASA for personnel serving at 1 September 2005. RAF data are provided by AFPAA as data are not centrally held. Data are for personnel serving as at 16 September 2005.
	(6) Includes personnel with nationality recorded as West German.
	(7) Includes personnel with nationality recorded as Ceylon.
	(8) Includes 15 personnel with nationality recorded as Commonwealth/foreign and personnel with nationality recorded as foreign/foreign.
	(9) Includes personnel with nationality recorded as Commonwealth/foreign.
	(10) Includes personnel with nationality recorded as foreign national.
	(11) Includes 70 personnel recorded as Commonwealth by birth, but with no nationality recorded.
	(12) Includes 10 personnel recorded as Commonwealth by birth, but with no nationality recorded.
	(13) 0 denotes zero.
	(14)denotes less than five.
	Note:
	Data are rounded to 5 to prevent disclosure of sensitive information. Due to the founding methods used totals may not always equal the sum of the parts.
	Source:
	DASA (Tri-Service)

Bowman

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects Bowman to be fully operational.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 2110W, to the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton).

Independent Assessor of Military Complaints

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons he did not allow the Independent Assessor of Military Complaints access to the Army records of 11 and 12 July 2004 North Belfast Parades; and if he will allow the Independent Assessor access to these records.

Adam Ingram: We thoroughly considered the request for papers by the Independent Assessor and concluded that they were not required to enable the assessor to carry out his statutory function under the Terrorism Act 2000. In reaching this conclusion, the Ministry of Defence considered whether further analysis of the events on 12 July 2004 was necessary. The policing of these parades was examined in considerable detail by Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon in their special report for the Policing Board published in November 2004. We do not consider, given the action already taken, that any useful purpose would be served by further examination.
	Ministry of Defence officials have written to Mr. McDonald to explain this reasoning.

Uganda

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance the Government are providing to the Ugandan Government for training of soldiers in peacekeeping and protecting civilian populations in northern Uganda.

Adam Ingram: The UK provides a small amount of training annually for the Ugandan Peoples' Defence Force (UPDF). This training is funded from both the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP) and the Defence Assistance Fund (DAF), and is primarily targeted at increasing national capacity to conduct Peace Support Operations (PSO).
	Training activities include the deployment of Short Term Training Teams to Uganda and attendance on relevant courses in UK. Funding has also been provided for Kenyan instructors to deliver a two week PSO package at the Ugandan Staff College. In addition, the UK funded International Mine Action Training Centre in Nairobi has recently commenced the training of 140 UPDF engineers in humanitarian de-mining in preparation for mine clearance operations in northern Uganda, overseen by the UN Development Programme and the Mines Awareness Trust. A similar programme of activities is being developed for 2006–07.
	Our Defence Adviser in Kampala provides general advice to the UPDF on dealing with the threat from the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and protecting the civilian population in northern Uganda, including the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in camps. The importance of protecting the civilian population is routinely stressed in contacts with the Ugandan authorities.
	DfID has separately provided approximately £2.5 million in non-military assistance for conflict resolution efforts in northern and eastern Uganda. In addition, DfID is supporting a number of programmes responding to the plight of vulnerable groups affected by conflict. This includes help to protect children who commute into main towns each night to avoid abduction by the LRA. Furthermore, UNICEF has a protection team based in northern Uganda, which the UK helps finance. This team undertakes specific interventions to make the environment safer for women and children in the IDP camps.

Business Practice (Wage Labour)

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to monitor the business practices of United Kingdom-based international corporations abroad, with particular reference to wage labour; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: UK-based international companies which operate in other countries, and which are subject to the laws applicable in those counties are encouraged to apply high standards of corporate behaviour, including their protecting workers rights.
	The UK plays a leading role in ensuring that the international framework to promote and to tackle abuses of those rights throughout the world is in place, through its work with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is responsible for developing, promoting and monitoring labour standards. We play an active role in the ILO Committee on Multinational Enterprises and support the promotion and follow-up of the ILO Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy which seeks to enhance the positive social and labour effects of multinational corporations' operations throughout the world.
	We also promote the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises which recommend standards of responsible business conduct for businesses operating in or from the 37 adhering countries and have written to the FTSE 100 companies to raise awareness of these expectations. We have also set out our approach to encouraging environmentally and socially responsible practice internationally in our "International Strategic Framework on Corporate Social Responsibility" published in March.

Departmental Estate

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what he has identified as the most significant sustainable development impacts in relation to the operation of the estate of his Department.

Alan Johnson: The sustainable development aspects relating to the operation of the estate have been assessed and are recorded within the ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System.
	Of the 212 environmental aspects only three fall into the significant range within the assessments. Two of these are waste related the third is related to the energy consumed to provide heat, light and energy to the buildings.

Departmental Paper

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the Department's main suppliers of (a) copier paper, (b) stationery, (c) envelopes and (d) paper for reports, in each case stating (i) the name of each paper used and (ii) the recycled and post-consumer recycled content of each paper.

Alan Johnson: It is DTI HQ policy that all paper purchased for copying paper and that for printed publications complies with the targets met by Defra. These have been met.
	The DTI HQ office supplies contractor, Office Depot, provide Niceday 3500 which is an 80/20 recycled green product for all copier paper. Office Depot also supply Niceday own brand envelopes manufactured from recycled materials. Any bespoke stationery supplied under this contract is Conquer l00gsm made with recycled paper.
	The DTI HQ publications unit specify that all publications generated by the Department is 60 per cent. recycled with a minimum of 75 per cent. post-consumer waste.

Departmental Water Usage

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at which of his Department's sites he has identified opportunities for significant water savings.

Alan Johnson: The DTI HQ estate comprises of 11 locations all of which have had water saving assessments and water saving initiatives have been put into place appropriate to the size of the sites. Water consumption data is collected and reported on monthly and is included within the overall departmental sustainable development returns.
	Overall the DTI HQ estate has experienced a reduction in total water consumption between April 2002 and March 2005 of 34 per cent. and a reduction in consumption per capita of 20 per cent.

Digital Television

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of televisions which will be disposed of as household waste following the transfer to digital transmission.

Alun Michael: All electrical equipment would be disposed of in the natural course of events. Digital switchover itself does not require any equipment to be thrown away, but its timing may affect the timing of disposal of some equipment such as rarely used televisions that people choose not to adapt. DTI and Defra are commissioning research to model any changes in patterns of waste disposal generated by switchover now that the timescale has been determined. DCMS and DTI will continue to work with Digital UK to ensure that consumer communications do not encourage unnecessary disposal of television equipment.

Energy Efficiency

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has come from renewable sources in each year since 1997.

Alan Johnson: The Department purchases electricity from renewable sources equating to an average of 32.3 per cent. for the period 1999–2000 to 2004–05, of its HQ estate requirement compared to a target of 10 per cent. by 2008.
	
		
			  Percentage electricity from renewable source 
		
		
			 1997–98 Not bought 
			 1998–99 Not bought 
			 1999–2000 26 
			 2000–01 26 
			 2001–02 34 
			 2002–03 36 
			 2003–04 35 
			 2004–05 37 
		
	
	Letter from Ron Marchant to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	House of Commons Parliamentary Question: 2005/1063
	I am responding to this parliamentary question, tabled on 22 July 2005, regarding the proportion of electricity used by the Patent Office since 1997. During the period 1997–2003 none of the Patent Office Estate used electricity from renewable sources. Since then Concept House, the Patent Office Headquarters and Main building, uses 100% "green" electricity. The remainder of the estate are still using electricity from fossil fuels.
	Letter from Claire Clancy to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	I am responding to your recently tabled Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on behalf of Companies House, which is an Executive Agency of the DTI.
	The annual spend by Companies House on electricity up until April 2000 and water and sewerage until April 2001 is not readily available due to a change in monitoring procedures. Figures from 2000 to 2005 for Cardiff, and from 2004 when we opened our Nantgarw office are as follows:
	
		
			 April to March Cardiff Nantgarw 
		
		
			 Electricity 
			 2000–01 203,732 n/a 
			 2001–02 190,830 n/a 
			 2002–03 158,510 n/a 
			 2003–04 175,791 n/a 
			 2004–05 214,850 50,677 
			 Water and sewerage 
			 2001–02 42,207 n/a 
			 2002–03 27,268 n/a 
			 2003–04 17,899 n/a 
			 2004–05 20,988 899 
		
	
	Our Cardiff office has been a 100 per cent. renewable electricity source since July 2001, and our Nantgarw offices is just at the end of the first year of brown energy. We are however negotiating to have it moved to green energy from October 2005.
	Letter from Desmond Flynn to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (1063/2005) asking what proportion of the electricity used in this agency's buildings has come from renewable sources in each year since 1997.
	The Insolvency Service has not yet bought electricity from renewable sources because it is more expensive than electricity available from other sources. It does not therefore represent value for money. My agency has however installed photovoltaic cells on the roof of our headquarters building here at Bloomsbury Street. Electricity generated by these cells currently accounts for 2.5% of our annual use at this building. The Insolvency Service is therefore making a significant contribution in this way to the sustainable development agenda.
	Letter from Dr. Jeff Llewellyn to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding the proportion of electricity used by Agency buildings that has come from renewable sources, in each year since 1997.
	The National Weights & Measures Laboratory (NWML) operates on the same site as the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Teddington. Since 1996 the operations of NPL have been subject to a Management Contract run by NPL Management. Historically, NWML has always paid NPL for its share of the electricity costs and benefits from economies of scale associated with the NPL Electricity Contract. We are invoiced by NPL Management, and do not see the invoice from the electricity supplier. NPL Management has told us that the invoice from the supplier does not give any indication what percentage of electricity comes from renewable sources.

Grocery Trade

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many representations his Department has received in 2005 from (a) members of the public and (b) individual companies on (i) Tesco's market share, (ii) mergers and acquisitions in the grocery trade and (iii) the Retailer Code of Practice; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Ministers at the DTI have received a considerable number of representations from members of the public, pressure groups and companies on the structure of the grocery market and the Supermarket Code of Practice.
	Competition in the supermarket and grocery sectors is a matter for the independent competition authorities, in this case the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). On mergers, the OFT's role is to refer situations where it believes there is likely to be a substantial lessening of competition to the Competition Commission (CC). It is for the CC to decide whether the merger should be allowed to proceed. The OFT assesses each merger on a case by case basis, so it is not possible to say whether any future mergers will be referred to the CC.
	The Supermarkets Code of Practice (the Code) only concerns transactions between supermarkets and their direct suppliers. Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are statutorily bound by the Supermarkets Code while Morrisons has volunteered to abide by it. The OFT reviewed the operation of the Code in 2003–04 and again in 2005. On 3 August they published a report on the final outcome of their 2005 review. This is available on their website at http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/200S/l46–05.htm

Phoenix Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants have been made to (a) Leeds and (b) Leeds West from the Phoenix Fund.

Alun Michael: The Phoenix Fund has provided a total of £250,000 for activities wholly in Leeds. It is not possible to identify separately the proportion of that funding that relates to Leeds West.
	In addition, the fund has provided £1,470,180 for activities that have included, Leeds although not exclusively. It is not possible to identify separately the proportion of that amount that relates to Leeds or Leeds West.

Regional Government

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which (a) non-departmental public bodies and (b) executive agencies within the remit of his Department have regional offices based on the Government Offices for the Regions' regional structure; and when the regional offices were established in each case.

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her question on 23 March 2005, Official Report, column 824.

Retailer Code of Practice

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research his Department has (a) commissioned, and (b) evaluated on the effectiveness of the Retailer Code of Practice.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Competition in the supermarket and grocery sectors is a matter for the independent competition authorities. In this case the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The Supermarkets Code of Practice (the Code) was introduced following the Competition Commission's (CC) report on "Supermarkets: a report on the supply of groceries from multiple stores" (published 10 October 2000). The Supermarkets Code only concerns transactions between supermarkets and their direct suppliers. Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are statutorily bound by the Supermarkets Code while Morrisons has volunteered to abide by it.
	The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reviewed the operation of the Code in 2003–04 and again in 2005. On 3 August they published a report on the final outcome of their 2005 review. This is available on their website at http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2005/146– 05.htm.

Statutory Paid Holiday

James McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) UK business and (b) worker productivity of increasing the minimum amount of statutory paid holiday available to workers in the UK to 20 days per year, exclusive of bank holidays;
	(2)  when he plans to introduce legislation to increase the minimum amount of statutory paid holiday available to workers in the UK to 20 days per year, exclusive of bank holidays.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government announced in the manifesto "we have introduced, for the first time, an entitlement for every employee to four weeks' paid holiday, and we propose to extend this by making it additional to bank holiday entitlement." This will be on a pro-rata basis for those working part-time.
	As announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 14 September, we are taking a power in the forthcoming Work and Families Bill to enable us to put this commitment into effect. A full and extensive consultation with stakeholders, in line with better regulation principles, will be undertaken before making formal proposals.
	We will of course publish an initial Regulatory Impact Assessment when the Bill is introduced, but there are likely to be a range of alternatives or variations emerging during consultation.

Utility Costs

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies spent on (i) electricity use and (ii) water and sewerage services in each year since 1997.

Alan Johnson: The running costs for DTI HQ estate in respect of electricity, water and sewerage since 1997 is based on available information. The figures are as follows:
	
		£000
		
			  Electricity Water and sewerage 
		
		
			 2003–04 957 90 
			 2002–03 942 137 
			 2001–02 855 137 
			 2000–01 929 171 
			 1999–2000 1,036 165 
			 1998–99 917 151 
			 1997–98 1,065 Not available 
		
	
	Letter from Ron Marchant to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	I am responding to this parliamentary question, tabled on 22 July 2005, regarding the annual spending by the Patent Office on electricity and water and sewerage from 1997. The answer is attached.
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Electric  
			 Government Buildings 50,263.53 38,852.91 29,278.90 38,102.90 37,186.71 
			 Concept House 151,614.59 136,510.18 131,115.58 129,185.34 120,189.06 
			 Nine Mile Point 21,863.93 19,831.33 19,263.30 20,336.82 17,087.71 
			 Total 223,742.05 195,194.42 179,657.78 187,625.06 174,463.48 
		
	
	
		
			  2001–02 2002–003 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Electric 
			 Government Buildings 44,742.53 31,570.36 32,423.57 35,249.34 
			 Concept House 130,168.49 115,206.62 117,780.42 136,191.69 
			 Nine Mile Point 15,551.56 17,200.70 19,175.72 20,502.34 
			 Total 190,462.58 163,977.68 169,379.71 191,943.37 
		
	
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–001 
		
		
			 Water  
			 Government Buildings 35,114.01 43,408.46 9,582.51 19,469.81 14,775.21 
			 Concept House 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 Nine Mile Point 2,416.46 1,558.75 1,032.05 880.01 227.74 
			 Total 37,530.47 (20)44,967.21 10,614.56 20,349.82 15,002.95 
		
	
	
		
			  2001–02 2002–003 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Water 
			 Government Buildings 23,511.00 14,152.37 22,968.06 26,939.27 
			 Concept House 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 Nine Mile Point 915.70 1,039.83 1,077.72 716.50 
			 Total 24,426.70 15,192.20 24,045.78 27,655.77 
		
	
	(20) Includes overpayment which was credited in 1998–99.
	The Concept House water and sewage is part of the service charge paid to ONS who pay the rate for the whole site the Patent Office share is usually about £1,900 per month.
	Letter from Iain MacGregor to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding annual spending on (i) electricity use and (ii) water and sewerage services in each year since 1997.
	
		NWML spend on electricity for the period 2000–2005
		
			  £000 
		
		
			 2000–01 26 
			 2001–02 18 
			 2002–03 14 
			 2003–04 18 
			 2004–05 56 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures for 1997–2000 are not easily available.
	Charges in respect of water and sewerage services are included in service charges to the managers of the Teddington site on which NWML sits.
	Letter from Desmond Flynn to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (965/2005) asking about annual spend by the agency on (i) electricity use and (ii) water and sewerage services in each year since 1997.
	The figures are as follows:
	
		£
		
			  Electricity Water 
		
		
			 2004–05 230,245 26,662 
			 2003–04 229,625 21,093 
			 2002–03 198,948 18,910 
			 2001–02 204,446 19,917 
			 2000–01 238,856 19,515 
			 1999–2000 192,878 21,290 
		
	
	This data excludes any spend on these utilities that might be included in a landlord's service charge.
	Figures before 1999–2000 are no longer available.

Utility Costs

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the annual spending by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has been on (i) water and sewerage services and (ii) electricity use in each year since 1997.

Alan Johnson: The running costs for DTI HQ estate in respect of electricity, water and sewerage since 1997 is based on available information. The figures are as follows.
	
		£000
		
			  Electricity Water and sewerage 
		
		
			 2003–04 957 90 
			 2002–03 942 137 
			 2001–02 855 137 
			 2000–01 929 171 
			 1999–2000 1,036 165 
			 1998–99 917 151 
			 1997–98 1,065 n/a 
		
	
	Letter from Ron Marchant to Mr. Alan Reid, dated 10 October 2005
	I am responding to this parliamentary question, tabled on 22 July 2005, regarding the annual spending by the Patent Office on electricity and water and sewerage from 1997.
	The answer is attached.
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 
		
		
			 Electric 
			 Government buildings 50,263.53 38,852.91 29,278.90 38,102.90 
			 Concept House 151,614.59 136,510.18 131,115.58 129,185.34 
			 Nine Mile Point 21,863.93 19,831.33 19,263.30 20,336.82 
			 Total 223,742.05 195,194.42 179,657.78 187,625.06 
			  
			 Water 
			 Government buildings 35,114.01 (21)43,408.46 9,582.51 19,469.81 
			 Concept House 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 Nine Mile Point 2,416.46 1,558.75 1,032.05 880.01 
			 Total 37,530.47 44,967.21 10,614.56 20,349.82 
		
	
	
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Electric  
			 Government buildings 37,186.71 44,742.53 31,570.36 32,423.57 35,249.34 
			 Concept House 120,189.06 130,168.49 115,206.62 117,780.42 136,191.69 
			 Nine Mile Point 17,087.71 15,551.56 17,200.70 19,175.72 20,502.34 
			 Total 174,463.48 190,462.58 163,977.68 169,379.71 191,943.37 
			   
			 Water  
			 Government buildings 14,775.21 23,511.00 14,152.37 22,968.06 26,939.27 
			 Concept House 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 Nine Mile Point 227.74 915.70 1,039.83 1,077.72 716.50 
			 Total 15,002.95 24,426.70 15,192.20 24,045.78 27,655.77 
		
	
	(21) Includes overpayment which was credited in 1998–99
	Note:
	The Concept House water and sewage is part of the service charge paid to ONS who pay the rate for the whole site the Patent Office share is usually about £1,900 per month.
	Letter from Claire Clancy to Mr. Alan Reid, dated 10 October 2005
	I am responding to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on behalf of Companies House, which is an Executive Agency of the DTI.
	The annual spend by Companies House on water and sewerage until April 2001 and electricity until April 2000, is not available due to a change in monitoring procedures. Figures from 2000 to 2005 are as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 Water and sewerage  
			 April 2001-March 2002 42,207 
			 April 2002-March 2003 27,268 
			 April 2003-March 2004 17,899 
			 April 2004-March 2005 21,887 
			   
			 Electricity  
			 April 2000-March 2001 203,732 
			 April 2001-March 2002 190,830 
			 April 2002-March 2003 158,510 
			 April 2003-March 2004 175,791 
			 April 2004-March 2005 265,527 
		
	
	Letter from Iain MacGregor to Mr. Alan Reid, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding annual spending on (i) electricity use and (ii) water & sewerage services in each year since 1997.
	NWML spend on electricity for the period 2000–05 was:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2000–01 26,000 
			 2001–02 18,000 
			 2002–03 14,000 
			 2003–04 18,000 
			 2004–05 56,000 
		
	
	Figures for 1997–2000 are not easily available.
	Charges in respect of water & sewerage services are included in service charges to the Managers of the Teddington site on which NWML sits.
	Letter from Desmond Flynn to Mr. Alan Reid, dated 10 October 2005
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (1014/2005) asking about annual spend by the agency on (i) water and sewerage services and (ii) electricity use in each year since 1997.
	The figures are as follows:
	
		£
		
			  Water Electricity 
		
		
			 2004–05 26,662 230,245 
			 2003–04 21,093 229,625 
			 2002–03 18,910 198,948 
			 2001–02 19,917 204,446 
			 2000–01 19,515 238,856 
			 1999–2000 21,290 192,878 
		
	
	This data excludes any spend on these utilities that might be covered in a landlord's service charge.
	Figures before 1999/00 are no longer available.

Welsh Legislation

Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how he intends to implement Paragraph 3.12 of the White Paper, "Better Governance for Wales" (Cm 6582), in respect of any Bill he introduces in the current Session of Parliament.

Barry Gardiner: The DTI intends to implement the Government's policy as stated in paragraph 3.12 of the White Paper "Better Governance for Wales" Cm 6582. The Department is in discussion with the Assembly Government on the issues concerned.

Aid Conditionality

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what operational guidelines for departmental staff have been introduced to give effect to the policy set out in the publication "Partnerships for Poverty Reduction: Rethinking Conditionality"; what changes to working practices within his Department have followed the publication of this document; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Operational guidance is being prepared, based on DFID country teams' experience of implementing the policy since its publication in March. We will consult with civil society organisations and other donors in finalising the guidance.
	The policy is re-inforcing DFID's efforts to build effective partnerships for development by supporting countries to develop their own poverty reduction plans, ensuring accountability for aid, and by making aid more predictable so that countries can rely on it in planning their budgets. The policy has confirmed that DFID will not make aid conditional on specific policy decisions by partner governments (including in sensitive economic areas such as privatisation or trade liberalisation). The policy is also ensuring that new programme agreements between DFID and partner countries are clear about the shared commitments on which our aid is based, the circumstances in which aid can be withdrawn, the impact we expect from our aid, and the way in which progress will be measured.

Asian Tsunami

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) financial, (b) material, (c) personnel and (d) other aid the UK Government (i) pledged, (ii) committed and (iii) has delivered to tsunami-affected countries since December 2004.

Hilary Benn: To date, nearly £67 million out of the £75 million allocated by DFID to meet immediate humanitarian relief needs following the tsunami, has been programmed through United Nations agencies, the Red Cross Movement and non-governmental organisations and DFID direct action. This spending can be broken down into:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 Red Cross Movement 3,500,000 
			 UN (some 40 organizations) 31,105,057 
			 NGOs 9,724,537 
			 DFID Indonesia Delegated Budget 8,355,489 
			 DFID Donations in Kind 10,972,138 
			 DFID Funded DEC Flights 2,083,126 
			 DFID Staff Secondments 489,000 
			 DFID Monitoring and Evaluation 165,000 
			 DFID operations project support costs 407,000 
			 Total 66,801,347 
		
	
	So far, £60 million of this has been disbursed. A Further detailed breakdown of this spending can be obtained in the document entitled "A breakdown of DFID's Immediate Relief Response to the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami" which has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The balance of the £67 million will be drawn down by the recipient agencies as needed. The remaining £7 million out of the £75 million has been earmarked for disaster risk reduction initiatives in affected countries.
	DFID has also allocated £65 million to meet reconstruction needs. From this allocation, £36 million has been committed to Indonesia, of which £6 million has so far been paid out to the Multi Donor Trust Fund. A further £2 million has been committed to Sri Lanka and £3 million to India to provide technical assistance aimed at ensuring effective, transparent and equitable programming of tsunami reconstruction efforts. The remaining £24 million of the £65 million allocation for reconstruction has not yet been programmed.

Debt Relief (Less Developed Countries)

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what announcements his Department has made in respect of funds (a) pledged, (b) committed and (c) actually spent or delivered to intermediaries for (i) debt relief and write off, (ii) aid programmes and (iii) other forms of financial assistance provided in support of Government policy for the assistance of less developed countries in each of the last eight years for which records are available;
	(2)  what the total amount of public funds is which has been (a) pledged, (b) committed and (c) spent for (i) debt relief and write-off, (ii) aid programmes and (iii) other forms of financial assistance for less developed countries since the commencement of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative; and when each pledge of new public funds was announced;
	(3)  how much (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral (i) aid and (ii) debt relief for developing countries the UK committed (A) before and (B) after the G7 Finance Ministers Summit in London on 10 and 11 June.

Hilary Benn: The annual Departmental Report for the Department for International Development sets out the Department's current spending plans and reports on expenditure for previous years. Each report's analysis of DFID expenditure covers: bilateral aid expenditure, including all forms of direct assistance; expenditure through multilateral institutions; DFID expenditure in support of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and the multilateral debt relief initiative, for those years in which these initiatives have been in place. The reports outline DFID's expenditure plans and do not distinguish between pledges and commitments.
	DFID's Departmental Report was first published in 1999. Copies of the report from 1999 to 2005 can be found in the Library of the House. Information on DFID expenditure is to be found in: Annex 1, Table 5 of the 1999 and 2000 reports; Annex 2, Table 10 of the 2001 report; Annex 1, Table 4 of the 2002 to 2005 reports.
	DFID's Departmental Report 2005 sets out its expenditure plans for 2005–06 to 2007–08. The Department's total planned expenditure on bilateral aid programmes and through multilateral institutions for the period 2005–06 to 2007–08 is set out in Table 1. This excludes the UK's share of the EC aid budget which is set against DFID's budget. It also excludes most UK expenditure on debt relief, although DFID's contribution to the HIPC Trust Fund is included. This is because most of our internationally agreed debt relief is provided on bilateral (government to government) debts held by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). Bilateral debt relief that goes beyond what is required by international agreements (such as our 100 per cent. bilateral cancellation policy for HIPC) is funded by DFID. So too is multilateral debt relief, such as under the new G8 proposal and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) for non-HIPCs.
	
		Table 1: Expenditure plans -- £ million
		
			  2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 
		
		
			 Bilateral Expenditure 2,062 2,111 2,261 
			 Multilateral Expenditure 1,085 1,282 1,306 
		
	
	The HIPC initiative provides relief and cancellation of debts owed to multilateral institutions as well as debts to bilateral governments. To date, debt relief worth $56 billion (£30 billion) in nominal terms has been agreed for 28 countries. Other countries are likely to enter the Initiative next year under its extended "Sunset clause". The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate that in recent years the HIPC Initiative has freed up around $1 billion a year from debt service payments for the 28 countries that have qualified under HIPC. The UK is the second largest contributor to the HIPC Trust Fund, which assists multilateral institutions with the costs of providing debt relief under HIPC. We have pledged a total of $436 million (£240 million) to the Trust Fund ($221 million, plus $88 million of the European Commission contribution in 2000, and a further $95 million, plus $32 million of an EC contribution in 2002). The UK also contributed US$43 million (£24 million) to assist the IMF with its costs of delivering HIPC debt relief.
	On bilateral debt, the Government have cancelled the aid debts owed by the poorest countries (not just the HIPCs), worth some £1.2 billion since 1978. In 1999, the Government agreed to cancel 100 per cent. of bilateral debts owed by HIPC countries to the UK when these countries completed the HIPC process. Since most aid debts had already been cancelled, these were generally export credit guarantee debts. For HIPC countries, total UK debt written off so far (to August 2005) is around £1.2 billion; this includes traditional Paris Club debt treatment, as well as the application of our 100 per cent. bilateral cancellation policy under the HIPC Initiative.
	In 2000, the Government announced that it would not benefit from debt service payments from HIPC countries, and that any payments received from December 2000 would be held in trust and reimbursed to the country once it had successfully completed the HIPC process.
	In 2004 the Government proposed greater relief on debts owed by countries to international institutions. The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) began on 1 January 2005, under which we committed to pay our share, 10 per cent., of qualifying countries' debt service payments to the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank and the African Development Fund (AfDF). We expect to spend about $46 million (£25 million) on qualifying countries this financial year.
	In June 2005, the G8 Finance Ministers endorsed a proposal to cancel all the remaining debts of HIPCs to the IMF, IDA and the AfDF. When agreed by the international community, the deal will be worth about $55 billion (£30 billion) in debt stock cancellations for the current 38 HIPCs. Donors will provide about $49 billion of this over the next 40 years to IDA and AfDF to compensate for foregone reflows. The cost of debt relief at the IMF ($6.1 billion) will be financed from internal resources, although the donors have committed to provide additional resources if needed to ensure that the IMF's ability to assist poor countries is not diminished. Annual resources for poverty reduction freed up by the proposal will be around $1 billion in 2007, rising to around $1.7 billion in 2010.
	The precise costs to the UK of the G8 proposal are yet to finalised, but are likely to be about $6 billion (£3.3 billion) over the whole 40-year period of implementation. The G8's proposal, when agreed, will supersede the MDRI for HIPCs, although the UK will continue to meet its obligations under the MDRI to qualifying non-HIPC countries. Assistance under the MDRI is likely to be worth $184 million (£100 million) over the period to 2015 for currently qualifying countries, and up to $463 million (£256 million) if all potentially eligible countries qualify.
	G8 Finance Ministers also reiterated in June their continued commitment to the full implementation and financing of HIPC. The UK already exceeds its commitments under HIPC. Our commitment to HIPC and other bilateral debt cancellation policies continue and were not altered by the G8 Finance Ministers' decisions in June.

European Development Fund

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total level of support under the 8th European Development Fund was to (a) Zimbabwe, (b) Namibia, (c) Nigeria, (d) Côte d'Ivoire, (e) Zaire, (f) Burma, (g) North Korea and (h) European countries.

Hilary Benn: The European Development Fund (EDF) provides development assistance to its 77 signatories from African Caribbean and Pacific states. Burma, North Korea and European countries are not signatories and therefore are not eligible for EDF support. The other countries which received the following allocations of development assistance under the 8th EDF are: Zimbabwe: €110 million, Namibia: €52 million, Nigeria: €100 million, Côte d'Ivoire: €120 million and the Democratic Republic of Congo: €25.7 million.

Gleneagles Summit Targets

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what arrangements have been put in place to ensure that targets set in the G8 Gleneagles communiqué are (a) monitored and (b) delivered.

Hilary Benn: The G8 Gleneagles communiqué has identified the African Partnership Forum (APF) as the main monitoring mechanism to ensure follow-up of the commitments made at the G8 Summit, on the basis of a Joint Action Plan. This plan will focus on progress of the key priorities identified by African partners. The next APF meeting will take place in London in early October and will be co-chaired by the UK and Nigeria. The UK is fully committed to the APF being effective and has proposed a small secretariat, which would undertake follow-up work in between the bi-annual meetings, and prepare reports/logistics for meetings.

HIV/AIDS

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the estimated number of HIV positive people is in each country in sub-Saharan Africa; what percentage of the population this represents in each case; what proportion is being treated with retrovirals; and what estimate has been made of the cost of treating all who would benefit with retrovirals.

Hilary Benn: According to the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), over 25 million adults and children were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2004. DFID focuses on 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa under its Public Service Agreement (PSA). The following table shows the adult prevalence rate and the total numbers of adults and children infected in each of these countries (UNAIDS statistics).
	In June 2005, the World Health Organisation estimated that 11 per cent. of people in sub-Saharan Africa requiring anti-retroviral therapy were receiving it—leaving a further 4.7 million people in need of treatment. According to UNAIDS estimates, it would cost approximately US$ 2 billion to provide retroviral treatment to all those that need it in Africa between 2006 and 2008. The following table also shows anti-retroviral therapy coverage in each of the 16 African PSA countries.
	Adult HIV prevalence, numbers of adults and children living with HIV, and numbers of adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy in African PSA countries.
	
		
			  Adult (15–49) HIV prevalence rate(24)(percentage) Adults and children (0–49) living with HIV(24) Reported number of adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy (15–49)(25) 
		
		
			 DRC 4.2 1,100,000 5,327 
			 Range (1.7–9.9) (450,000–2,600,000) — 
			 Ethiopia 4.4 1,500,000 16,400 
			 Range (0.9–7.3) (950,000–2,300,000) — 
			 Ghana 3.1 350,000 1,393 
			 Range (1.9–5.0) (210,000–560,000) — 
			 Kenya 6.7 1,200,000 38,000 
			 Range (4.7–9.6) (820,000–1,700,000) — 
			 Malawi 14.2 900,000 19,000 
			 Range (11.3–17.7) (700,000–1,100,000) — 
			 Lesotho 28.9 320,000 5,000 
			 Range (26.3–31.7) (290,000–360,000) — 
			 Nigeria 5.4 3,600,000 17,000 
			 Range (3.6–8.0) (2,400,000–5,400,000) — 
			 Mozambique 12.2 1,300,000 10,657 
			 Range (9.4–15.7) (980,000–1,700,000) — 
			 Rwanda 5.1 250,000 10,346 
			 Range (3.4–7.6) (170,000–380,000) — 
			 Sierra Leone (26)— (26)— (26)— 
			 South Africa 21.5 5,300,000 104,600 
			 Range (18.5–24.9) (4,500,000–6,200,000) — 
			 Sudan 2.3 400,000 400 
			 Range (0.7–7.2) (120,000–1,300,000) — 
			 Tanzania 8.8 1,600,000 8,300 
			 Range (6.4–11.9) (1,200,000–2,300,000) — 
			 Uganda 4.1 530,000 63,896 
			 Range (2.8–6.6) (350,000–880,000) — 
			 Zambia 16.5 920,000 23,000 
			 Range (13.5–20.0) (730,000–1,100,000) — 
			 Zimbabwe 16.5 920,000 15,000 
			 Range (13.5–20.0) (730,000–1,100,000) — 
		
	
	(24) UNAIDS epidemiological update, December 2004
	(25) WHO/UNAIDS "3X5" country profiles
	(26) Insufficient data

HIV/AIDS

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his latest estimate is of mortality rates from AIDS in developing countries; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: The UK relies on the Joint United Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to provide accurate AIDS statistics. According to the UNAIDS 2004 AIDS Epidemic update, the best estimate of number of people reported to have died from AIDS during 2004 ranges between 2.8 million and 3.5 million. Since the beginning of the epidemic 40 million people are reported to have died from AIDS.
	AIDS is a terrible human tragedy. DFID is leading the way forward in taking action to tackle this pandemic. We are committed to spend at least £1.5 billion to 2008 to intensify AIDS-related work in the developing world. Last month the UK hosted the latest Global Fund Replenishment Conference in London. And following the historic announcement at Gleneagles in July to
	"develop and implement a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010"
	we have begun work to ensure that this will be met.
	Last month the UK called an informal meeting attended by Members of the G8, developing countries, civil society, UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, and UNICEF to address next steps. UNAIDS have now been tasked with taking forward the process and will be asked to report on steps taken and action required to meet these commitments at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in 2006.

Venezuela

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) financial, (b) material, (c) personnel and (d) other aid the UK Government (i) pledged, (ii) committed and (iii) delivered to Venezuela following the floods in 1999.

Gareth Thomas: The UK Government's response following the floods in Venezuela in December 1999 was in the form of financial assistance only. £780,000 was committed to the relief exercise, of which £771,000 was delivered in the form of vouched expenditure. The funds were used to support the assistance provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Red Cross and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2005, Official Report, column 112W, on private finance projects, what total value of assets and liabilities for the project is recorded on the Government Balance Sheet; what proportion of assets and liabilities is listed; what the accounting treatment is for assets and liabilities; and whether it is compatible with (a) generally-accepted accounting practices and (b) international financial reporting standards.

John Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Resource Accounts 2004–05 (Notes to the Departmental Resource Accounts Nos. 1—Statement of Accounting Policies; 1.16; and 27) copies of which are available in the Library.

Buses

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total investment in quality bus corridors has been in each Passenger Transport Area in each of the last five years.

Karen Buck: The information on investment provided is based on annual returns the Department receives from local transport authorities. It does not hold records on the level of investment in quality bus corridors alone for all Passenger Transport Areas. An authority may have classified investment in quality bus corridors as a bus priority scheme or less likely as a bus infrastructure scheme. The following tables include information provided on both bus priority and bus infrastructure covering the five years of the first local transport plans.
	
		Bus priority schemes
		
			  £000 
			 Passenger Transport Area 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Greater Manchester 4,743 6,589 6,484 9,099 8,572 
			 Merseyside 697 1,158 69 12 0 
			 West Yorkshire 774 854 1,354 1,530 1,812 
			 South Yorkshire 2,422 4,106 3,680 4,703 5,999 
			 West Midlands 9,598 11,839 19,702 21,945 37,775 
			 Tyne and Wear 590 3,117 12,987 13,590 10,305 
		
	
	
		Bus infrastructure
		
			  £000 
			 Passenger Transport Area 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Greater Manchester 2,130 826 1,681 1,535 1,395 
			 Merseyside 6,884 6,292 6,462 4,016 5,308 
			 West Yorkshire 1,962 4,664 6,128 6,056 7,295 
			 South Yorkshire 1,568 656 549 2,684 1,377 
			 West Midlands 505 2,656 1,993 3,162 4,381 
			 Tyne and Wear 519 1,281 0 0 0 
		
	
	The figures for 2005–06 are forecast expenditure to the end of this financial year. Other bus related investment is not included in these figures.

Croydon Tramlink (Offences)

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list offences recorded by the British Transport Police occurring on the Croydon Tramlink System for each year since the inception of the system, broken down by (a) type of offence and (b) tram stop.

Derek Twigg: A table showing the number of offences on the Croydon Tramlink system, recorded by (a) offence group and (b) tram stop for financial years 2000–01 to 2004–05 and within British Transport Police's jurisdiction, has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

EU Directives

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 May 2005, Official Report, column 127W, on EU discussions, if he will make a statement on measures to be introduced under the planned directive on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport.

Stephen Ladyman: Two legislative proposals relating to harmonisation of social legislation relating to road transport are currently being negotiated within the EU institutions. The first is a proposal to replace the existing rules on drivers' hours as contained in EU Regulation (EEC No. 3820/85). The second is a proposed directive (known as the "enforcement directive") to replace the current requirements relating to the levels of checks member states must undertake to ensure compliance with the driver's hours rules.
	The transport council reached a political agreement on both these proposals on 11 June 2004, and the Common Positions were formally adopted on 9 December 2004. Under the Common Position on driver's hours the main changes proposed for the core provisions on driving and rest times are:
	an increase in the minimum uninterrupted daily rest period from 8 to 9 hours (plus changes to the way total daily rest is taken);.
	a reduction in the maximum driving time per calendar week from 72 hours to 56 hours;
	at least one regular weekly rest period of 45 consecutive hours must be taken during any two consecutive weeks, and either another regular weekly rest period or a reduced weekly rest period (at least 24 hours) which can be taken anywhere provided the reduction is compensated for within three weeks;
	an uninterrupted 45 minute break after 4½ hours driving or, alternatively, a break of 5 minutes for every ½ hour driving (or part thereof)—subject to a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum driving time of 4½ hours.
	The Council is also seeking through this piece of legislation to rectify significant gaps in the associated Regulation on digital tachographs by setting down requirements for drivers to enter data about non-driving work and for companies to download data and make it available at, or from, their premises. It will also provide a revised date for the introduction of the digital tachographs.
	The Common Position on the enforcement directive would require increased numbers of checks both on vehicles by the roadside and at company headquarters.
	On 13 April 2005 the European Parliament, at 2nd Reading, requested many amendments to both Common Positions—some relating to the changes mentioned above. Under the co-decision procedure the Council and European Parliament will now seek to reach agreed texts through conciliation. This process is scheduled to be completed in December.
	Once the EU legislation is adopted, the Government will prepare Regulations for the implementation of those measures that are not directly applicable.

General Lighthouse Fund

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was contributed by the General Lighthouse Fund to navigational aids in the territorial waters of the Republic of Ireland in 2004–05; and what the estimated contributions are for the next three years.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is set out as follows.
	
		
			  GLF contribution relating to the Republic of Ireland (Sterling £ million) 
		
		
			 2004–05 6.88 
			 2005–06(28) 9.44 
			 2006–07(28) 8.19 
		
	
	(28) Estimated
	The figures for 2005–06 and 2006–07 include costs in relation to the new Head Office building at Dun Laoghaire for the Commissioners of Irish Lights; and are net of the estimated proceeds from the sale of the existing building in Dublin and the additional contribution from the Irish Government. The net cost of the project to the General Lighthouse Fund is expected to be £4.7 million with estimated running cost savings of £1.4 million per annum.
	No detailed planning exists for 2007–08.

Graduated Driver Licensing Scheme

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the Graduated Driver Licensing scheme.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department has commissioned research on this topic and TRL report number 529: "Graduated driver licensing—a review of some current systems" was published in 2002 (available on-line at www.trl.co.uk/1024/mainpage.asp?page=141).
	As part of our Road Safety Strategy, we consulted in 2002 on a number of options for improving the safety of new drivers, including changes to the licensing system. Although some support was expressed for the introduction of a full graduated licensing system, the Secretary of State concluded that the skills needed to drive unaccompanied should be demonstrated at the time of the practical test, and that the introduction of new licensing arrangements such as a requirement to take a second practical test or the imposition of restrictions on newly qualified drivers, was not justified. The consultation document and decision letter are available on-line from the Department's website at www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/contentservertemplate/dft_index.hcst?n=10204&l=2.

Heathrow Airport

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the last on-the-ground measurements of noise from aircrafts using London Heathrow airport were taken.

Karen Buck: Departure noise is continually monitored by BAA at 10 fixed sites under the departure tracks at Heathrow. These are put in place to gauge whether departing aircraft comply with the noise limits specified in the noise abatement notice for Heathrow under Section 78(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1982. Compliance is reviewed regularly through BAA's Noise and Track Keeping Working Group, and data is published annually in BAA's Flight Evaluation Report.
	Data from the fixed monitors and additional mobile noise monitors is used to validate a noise exposure model for the 16-hour day time summer period. The Civil Aviation Authority, on behalf of the Department, uses the model to produce annual noise contours at Heathrow airport. The 2004 noise contours have recently been published on the Department's website.

Intelligent Speed Adaptation System

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the Intelligent Speed Adaptation system.

Stephen Ladyman: A research project into External Vehicle Speed Control (the technology now more commonly known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation or ISA) was carried out on behalf of the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions between 1997 and 2000. The results are available on the Department for Transport website and copies of the executive summary have been placed in the Library.
	A further project into Intelligent Speed Adaptation began in 2001 and is expected to end in December 2006. A draft interim report for the first completed phase has been produced and submitted to the Department. However, as it is important to avoid influencing the behaviour of subsequent groups of drivers, I do not intend to publish this or subsequent interim reports. They will be made available when the project has been completed and the final report submitted.
	In addition the Department has been taking part in "SpeedAlert"—a European project looking at work in this field. The consortium's final report is being prepared and when it is complete copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Light Dues

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much revenue from light dues has been collected from ships calling at ports in (a) Scotland, (b) the Isle of Man, (c) England and Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the Republic of Ireland, in each of the last 10 financial years.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is set out as follows for the years 1997–98 to 2004–05. We do not have the data broken down in this way prior to 1997.
	
		
			 £ 
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Scotland 6,628,362 8,034,125 8,929,664 9,110,458 
			 Isle of Man 37,730 44,425 20,636 19,013 
			 England and Wales 51,540,876 54,942,312 55,756,006 57,923,612 
			 Northern Ireland 706,508 617,012 662,504 599,415 
			 Republic of Ireland  (ROI) 2,816,420 3,131,481 3,464,780 3,416,675 
			 Total 61,729,896 66,769,355 68,833,590 71,069,173 
		
	
	
		
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Scotland 8,536,211 7,270,784 6,495,877 6,475,266 
			 Isle of Man 19,401 26,075 24,261 22,969 
			 England and Wales 62,489,783 60,343,914 63,510,099 60,825,662 
			 Northern Ireland 662,196 637,722 600,136 586,000 
			 Republic of Ireland  (ROI) 3,077,674 3,363,730 3,482,544 3,053,012 
			 Total 74,785,265 71,642,225 74,112,917 70,962,911 
		
	
	The figures above are for General Light Dues and do not include income from UK fishing vessels and tugs.
	The figures do not include any Light Dues refunds that were made.

Media Relations

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Department has spent on external media relations in each month of the last year.

Karen Buck: The Department has press officers who handle much of its media relations with the support of the Government News Network in the regions. In addition, the Department spent the following amount in each month of 2004–05 on consultancy fees for external media relations primarily to support our marketing activities for example the THINK! road safety campaign.
	
		
			   £ 
			  DfT (central) DfT (agencies) 
		
		
			 2004   
			 April 513 33,000 
			 May 29,478 30,625 
			 June 68,493 40,906 
			 July 42,221 30,650 
			 August 0 30,900 
			 September 32,770 28,765 
			 October 32,640 28,083 
			 November 59,901 29,645 
			 December 30,549 27,645 
			
			 2005   
			 January 22,151 28,795 
			 February 29,524 30,465 
			 March 89,970 33,848

Railways

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers (a) died and (b) were seriously injured while travelling by rail in each year from 1976.

Derek Twigg: Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive's HM Railway Inspectorate are shown in the following table.
	The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR 95) introduced in 1 April 1996 does not distinguish between a serious injury and a minor injury to members of the public. Consequently, for injury data from 1996 onwards, the reporting trigger is that passengers are taken away from the accident site immediately to hospital, which includes minor or possible injuries as well as serious ones. As a result, figures for "seriously injured" are not available from 1996–97.
	
		
			  Passengers killed Passengers seriously injured 
		
		
			 1976 30 142 
			 1977 30 129 
			 1978 47 130 
			 1979 52 157 
			 1980 26 166 
			 1981 39 107 
			 1982 20 93 
			 1983 29 86 
			 1984 39 115 
			 1985 33 124 
			 1986 32 169 
			 1987 68 177 
			 1988 69 309 
			 1989 33 268 
			 1990 37 224 
			 1991–92(30) 39 192 
			 1992–93 18 238 
			 1993–94 17 205 
			 1994–95 17 204 
			 1995–96 11 214 
			 1996–97 17 (31)— 
			 1997–98 26 (31)— 
			 1998–99 20 (31)— 
			 1999–2000 47 (31)— 
			 2000–01 21 (31)— 
			 2001–02 13 (31)— 
			 2002–03 23 (31)— 
			 2003–04 12 (31)— 
			 2004(32) 10 (31)— 
		
	
	(30) Covers the 15-month period 1 January 1991 to 31 March 1991.
	(31) Not available due to change in reporting criteria—RIDDOR 95
	(32) Covers a nine-month period 1 April 2004 to 31 December 2004.

Road Accidents

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has held with the oil and petroleum industries on the effects of low-level exposure to petrol fumes on the incidence of road accidents.

Stephen Ladyman: No discussions have been held.

Road Safety

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what advice his Department provides for local authorities regarding the siting of (a) speed bumps and (b) chicanes.

Stephen Ladyman: Powers permitting the construction of road humps and traffic calming works are conferred by the Highways Act 1980, sections 90A to 90I. The Highways (Road Humps) Regulations 1999 further restrict the location of road humps. Advice on the design and implementation of both road humps and chicanes is given in the Department's traffic advisory leaflets (TALs). I have placed copies of TAL 2/05 "Traffic Calming Bibliography", which lists these, in the Libraries of the House.

Street Works

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what benchmark he has established for the current cost of street works to measure changes that will arise from the introduction of permits; how this benchmark was set; what targets he has set for utility companies and highway authorities to improve; and what level of improvements he expects.

Karen Buck: We are developing proposals under the Traffic Management Act 2004 intended to reduce the impact of street works on congestion. This includes the new concept of permits.
	Consultation earlier this year on these measures revealed widely ranging views on permit fees, and other substantive comments. We are therefore to reconvene a working group on permits, comprising representatives of utility companies and street authorities, to review the fees for permits and the cost to utilities, and other related issues. This will also provide the opportunity to look at how utilities expect to improve their performance. We intend to develop key performance indicators to measure local highway authority performance for their own works, to allow comparison with utility performance.

Street Works

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2005, Official Report, column 934, on roadworks, if he will make a statement on the method by which Halcrow concluded that the cost of congestion caused by utility street works was £4.3 billion per year.

Karen Buck: Details of the methodology are contained in the Halcrow report to Department for Transport, volume 3—"Estimation of the Cost of Delay from Utilities' Street Works", dated September 2004. Copies of this document have been placed in the House Library.

Transport

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria will be used for the approval of schemes for the Transport Innovation Scheme.

Derek Twigg: Information on the objectives and operation of the Transport Innovation fund was published on 5 July 2005 in the paper "The Transport Innovation Fund". This paper outlined the characteristics that successful schemes would meet. More detailed guidance on the operation of the fund, including information on the application and decision making process, will be published by the end of 2005.

Vehicle Ownership

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of cars owned in (a) Brent East, (b) each London borough, (c) London and (d) England in each year since 1997; and what percentage of the total he estimates were four-wheel drive in each year.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is detailed in the table:
	
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Brent East 22,000 23,000 23,000 24,000 
			  
			 City of London 16,000 14,000 11,000 9,000 
			 Barking and Dagenham 45,000 46,000 47,000 48,000 
			 Barnet 115,000 117,000 119,000 120,000 
			 Bexley 85,000 87,000 88,000 90,000 
			 Brent 77,000 79,000 80,000 81,000 
			 Bromley 121,000 124,000 126,000 127,000 
			 Camden 47,000 48,000 49,000 51,000 
			 Croydon 123,000 124,000 121,000 122,000 
			 Ealing 100,000 103,000 105,000 101,000 
			 Enfield 99,000 101,000 103,000 103,000 
			 Greenwich 58,000 59,000 61,000 62,000 
			 Hackney 38,000 39,000 40,000 40,000 
			 Hammersmith and  Fulham 37,000 38,000 39,000 39,000 
			 Haringey 56,000 57,000 59,000 58,000 
			 Harrow 88,000 89,000 90,000 90,000 
			 Havering 90,000 91,000 92,000 94,000 
			 Hillingdon 142,000 134,000 131,000 123,000 
			 Hounslow 75,000 78,000 80,000 89,000 
			 Islington 40,000 41,000 38,000 38,000 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 43,000 43,000 43,000 43,000 
			 Kingston upon Thames 57,000 57,000 58,000 59,000 
			 Lambeth 60,000 61,000 67,000 65,000 
			 Lewisham 65,000 66,000 68,000 69,000 
			 Merton 64,000 65,000 64,000 65,000 
			 Newham 51,000 52,000 54,000 55,000 
			 Redbridge 82,000 84,000 85,000 87,000 
			 Richmond upon Thames 66,000 67,000 72,000 71,000 
			 Southwark 55,000 55,000 59,000 60,000 
			 Sutton 73,000 74,000 75,000 76,000 
			 Tower Hamlets 35,000 37,000 35,000 36,000 
			 Waltham Forest 63,000 64,000 66,000 67,000 
			 Wandsworth 110,000 111,000 113,000 115,000 
			 City of Westminster 62,000 62,000 61,000 59,000 
			  
			 London 2,339,000 2,369,000 2,401,000 2,414,000 
			  
			 England 19,574,000 20,006,000 20,468,000 20,973,000 
			  
			 4X4/SUV percentage 3.8% 4.4% 4.5% 4.5% 
		
	
	
		
			  2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Brent East 25,000 25,000 25,000 26,000 
			  
			 City of London 6,000 5,000 5,000 4,000 
			 Barking and Dagenham 49,000 50,000 51,000 53,000 
			 Barnet 123,000 125,000 127,000 129,000 
			 Bexley 92,000 94,000 95,000 97,000 
			 Brent 83,000 85,000 85,000 87,000 
			 Bromley 130,000 132,000 133,000 136,000 
			 Camden 53,000 53,000 52,000 51,000 
			 Croydon 125,000 126,000 126,000 128,000 
			 Ealing 103,000 105,000 105,000 107,000 
			 Enfield 106,000 108,000 109,000 111,000 
			 Greenwich 65,000 66,000 68,000 71,000 
			 Hackney 42,000 42,000 42,000 43,000 
			 Hammersmith and  Fulham 39,000 39,000 39,000 42,000 
			 Haringey 60,000 61,000 62,000 63,000 
			 Harrow 93,000 89,000 89,000 91,000 
			 Havering 95,000 97,000 99,000 101,000 
			 Hillingdon 121,000 118,000 115,000 118,000 
			 Hounslow 95,000 95,000 94,000 97,000 
			 Islington 39,000 39,000 40,000 40,000 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 45,000 46,000 47,000 47,000 
			 Kingston upon Thames 60,000 62,000 61,000 62,000 
			 Lambeth 66,000 66,000 66,000 65,000 
			 Lewisham 70,000 71,000 72,000 74,000 
			 Merton 65,000 66,000 66.000J 67,000 
			 Newham 57,000 59,000 59,000 61,000 
			 Redbridge 89,000 91,000 92,000 94,000 
			 Richmond upon Thames 71,000 72,000 73,000 74,000 
			 Southwark 60,000 61,000 60,000 61,000 
			 Sutton 78,000 77,000 78,000 80,000 
			 Tower Hamlets 36,000 37,000 37,000 39,000 
			 Waltham Forest 68,000 69,000 70,000 72,000 
			 Wandsworth 116,000 107,000 102,000 98,000 
			 City of Westminster 61,000 61 ,000 60,000 59,000 
			  
			 London 2,461,000 2,473,000 2,480,000 2,523,000 
			  
			 England 21,539,000 22,052,000 22,382,000 22,921,000 
			  
			 4X4/SUV percentage 4.9% 5.4% 6.2% 7.0%

EU Electors

Greg Hands: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many EU citizens are entitled to vote in local elections in each London borough; and what percentage of the total electorate this represents in each borough.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Greg Hands, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many EU citizens are entitled to vote in local elections in each London borough, and the percentage of the total electorate this represents in each borough. (15761)
	The attached table provides figures for December 2004 on the portion of the local government electorate for each London Borough (and the City of London) that are entitled to vote through European Union citizenship.
	
		Total European/Local Government Electorate and Electorate Entitled to Vote through European Union Citizenship, December 2004
		
			 London borough Electorate Qualifying through European Union Citizenship(34)(35) Total European/Local Government Electorate Percentage of European/Local Electorate Qualifying through EU Citizenship 
		
		
			 City of London 333 6,018 5.5 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,756 119,372 1.5 
			 Barnet 8,004 214,421 3.7 
			 Bexley 1,369 171,904 0.8 
			 Brent 10,252 180,665 5.7 
			 Bromley 3,458 228,983 1.5 
			 Camden 11,378 144,326 7.9 
			 Croydon 5,010 246,866 2.0 
			 Ealing 11,685 215,814 5.4 
			 Enfield 6,048 194,611 3.1 
			 Greenwich 5,055 160,176 3.2 
			 Hackney 6,904 129,274 5.3 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 10,460 116,144 9.0 
			 Haringey 9,495 152,486 6.2 
			 Harrow 3,739 162,049 2.3 
			 Havering 947 175,668 0.5 
			 Hillingdon 3,852 181,145 2.1 
			 Hounslow 5,759 165,583 3.5 
			 Islington 6,904 120,297 5.7 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 14,608 98,629 14.8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 3,340 99,014 3.4 
			 Lambeth 13,016 203,055 6.4 
			 Lewisham 5,650 177,731 3.2 
			 Merton 6,184 135,678 4.6 
			 Newham 7,651 171,815 4.5 
			 Redbridge 2,319 181,192 1.3 
			 Richmond upon Thames 4,614 120,146 3.8 
			 Southwark 7,664 180,173 4.3 
			 Sutton 2,069 131,315 1.6 
			 Tower Hamlets 5,180 145,444 3.6 
			 Waltham Forest 5,547 159,399 3.5 
			 Wandsworth 11,378 211,816 5.4 
			 Westminster 15,402 135,810 11.3 
		
	
	(34) These data are as reported by each London Borough to ONS.
	(35) Excludes British and Irish citizens, and also Maltese and Cypriot citizens who qualify as Commonwealth citizens.
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

Juries

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent research has been conducted into juries' deliberations.

Harriet Harman: The law currently forbids any research into jury deliberations. In January 2005 my Department published a Consultation Paper—"Jury Research and Impropriety" and the relevant consultation period finished on 15 April. The responses have been analysed and an announcement of the Government's intentions for any change will be made shortly.

Common Fisheries Policy

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals have been advanced under the UK presidency of the EU, for the reform of the common fisheries policy; and what discussions Ministers and officials in his Department had on this subject at the General Affairs Council on 18 and 19 July 2005.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the White Paper entitled "Prospects for the EU in 2005—The UK presidency of the Union" presented to Parliament by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 30 June 2005. A copy of the White Paper has been placed in the Library of the House. This sets out the UK presidency's plan for taking forward the EU fisheries negotiations. Fisheries was not discussed at the July General Affairs Council.

EU Accession

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much (a) state and (b) EU aid (i) has been authorised and (ii) has been calculated as required to modernise the Bulgarian and Romanian (A) steel, (B) transport, (C) fisheries, (D) oil and (E) farm sectors, in the context of EU accession.

Douglas Alexander: The EU provides extensive financial assistance to candidate countries via the Poland and Hungary Assistance for Restructuring of their Economies (PHARE), the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD) and the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre Accession (ISPA) programmes, in order to help them meet the necessary EU standards and in line with the relevant pre-accession strategy for each country. PHARE provides assistance for projects in the field of implementation of the acquis, economic and social cohesion and cross-border co-operation. ISPA helps to finance environment and transport infrastructure. SAPARD provides assistance for projects in agriculture and rural development. EU funds are disbursed through annual project bids and the recipient countries are required to co-finance the projects agreed.
	
		Bulgaria has been authorised to receive in the period 2000–06
		
			  € billion 
		
		
			 PHARE 1.42 
			 ISPA 0.877 
			 SAPARD 0.415 
			 Total 2.712 
		
	
	
		Romania has been authorised to receive in the period 2000–06
		
			  € billion 
		
		
			 PHARE 0.939 
			 ISPA 2.02 
			 SAPARD 1.3 
			 Total 4.259 
		
	
	For the first three years after accession, a further €16 billion has been earmarked for Bulgaria and Romania together. This will cover the same areas as PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD in the pre-accession period.
	We do not maintain figures on the state aid provided by candidate countries to industry. Bulgaria and Romania will, under the terms of their Accession Treaty, be required to provide details of this within four months after accession.

EU Advisory Committee for the Co-ordination of Fraud Prevention

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the representatives to the EU Advisory Committee for the Co-ordination of Fraud Prevention; when the group last met; when it next plans to meet; whether it has addressed whistleblower cases; and what its work programme is.

Douglas Alexander: The EU Advisory Committee for the Co-ordination of Fraud Prevention is made up of delegations from each of the member states, and is chaired by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Delegations' composition varies according to the subject matter discussed. The UK delegation normally includes a representative of HM Treasury's EU Finance Team. The Committee last met on 31 May 2005 and its next meeting is provisionally scheduled for 25–26 October. The Committee normally meets about three to four times a year. Its work programme is set at short notice, in response to current issues. The Committee has never formally discussed whistleblower cases.

Carbon Emissions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government has taken in response to suggested scenarios for reducing carbon emissions set out in the 22nd Report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution; and what outcomes have been achieved.

Elliot Morley: The Government accepted the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's recommendation that the UK should put itself on a path towards a reduction in carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) emissions of some 60 per cent. from current levels by about 2050. The Energy White Paper (CM 5761), published by the DTI in February 2003, outlined a number of ways in which the 60 per cent. goal could be achieved. The EWP is being taken forward by the inter-departmental Sustainable Energy Policy Network (SEPN).
	The current review of the UK Climate Change Programme (2000) is looking at how existing measures are performing and the range of measures that might be put in place in the future to help us achieve our goal of a 20 per cent. reduction in CO 2 emissions by 2010 and to put us on a path to make
	"real progress by 2020 towards our longer-term goal of some 60 per cent. reduction in CO 2 emissions below 1990 levels by about 2050".

Common Agricultural Policy

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress in the reduction of intervention rates under the Common Agricultural Policy.

Jim Knight: Intervention prices have been reduced in CAP reform agreements over the last decade or so. Intervention prices for most commodities have been substantially reduced.
	The cereals intervention price was reduced by around 35 per cent. over the period 1993–94 to 1995–96 and by a further 15 per cent. in the period 2000–01 to 2001–02. It now stands at €101.31. From the start of the 2004–05 marketing year, rye was excluded from the list of eligible crops for cereals intervention, reducing the potential volume of stocks and therefore expenditure.
	The rice intervention price was reduced by 15 per cent. over the period 1997–98 and 1999–2000. Under the 2003 reforms it was further reduced by almost 50 per cent. from the start of the 2004–05 marketing year. It now stands at €150/t and intervention purchasing is limited to 75,000 tonnes of rice per annum.
	The beef intervention price was reduced by 20 per cent. in 1999. It now stands at €1,560/t.
	The 2003 CAP reform agreement included phased reductions in intervention prices in the milk sector over a four year period as set out in the table:
	
		
			  1 July 2000 to 30 June 2004 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007 From 1 July 2007 
		
		
			 Butter Price €/100 kg 328.20 305.23 282.44 259.52 246.39 
			 Percentage cut — 7 7 7 4 
			   
			 Skimmed milk powder Price €/100 kg 205.52 195.24 184.97 174.69 — 
			 Percentage cut — 5 5 5 — 
		
	
	The sugar intervention price has been at €631.90/t for white sugar and €523.70/t for raw sugar since the 1993–94 marketing year. As part of the current negotiations to reform the sugar regime, the European Commission have proposed the abolition of the intervention mechanism and price for sugar.

Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 5 July about the trawler Success III.

Ben Bradshaw: I responded to the hon. Member on 2 August.

Countryside Agency

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of the Countryside Agency's (a) Land Access and Recreation Project, (b) Commission for Rural Communities Project and (c) Making a Difference Project in 2004–05.

Jim Knight: The Countryside Agency did not have a landscape, access and recreation project in 2004–05. There was activity in this area consisting of a limited restructuring of the former 'B' directorate into a new landscape, access and recreation division (LAR). Financial information on this aspect of the Agency's work could only be made available at disproportionate cost.
	Steps were taken to launch a new Commission for Rural Communities division as a distinct body within the Countryside Agency's legal framework on 9 March 2005, pending the passage of legislation to establish the Commission as a statutory body in its own right. The Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill contained an estimate of around £458,000 for the cost incurred in 2004–05 for the establishment and launch of the Commission. We will be updating the Assessment when the Bill begins its passage through the House of Lords.
	Some £166,000 was spent on the Making a Difference project which related to sharing learning from the Countryside Agency's socio-economic work, including through events and publications, from its six years of operation.

Emissions

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the likely impact on carbon dioxide emissions in the next decades of the expansion of energy generating capacity in (a) China, (b) India, (c) Brazil, (d) Mexcio and (e) South Africa.

Elliot Morley: As the 2004 International Energy Agency "World Energy Outlook" indicates, economic growth is the most important driver of energy demand. As Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa continue to experience rapid economic growth, the energy needs of these countries will also continue to grow rapidly.
	Meeting energy security needs and ensuring access to energy is a major priority for all countries. Economic expansion with the use of existing technologies will have significant implications on carbon dioxide emissions in the forthcoming decades.
	The "World Energy Outlook" points out that is possible to promote economic expansion and meet the challenges of energy security and climate change, through the use of alternative, cleaner technologies. The Government firmly believes that technological co-operation with emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa is vital in developing and deploying low carbon technology globally.
	At the Gleneagles summit, the UK and our G8 partners demonstrated this commitment to technological co-operation, agreeing a package of measures to work with emerging economies to accelerate progress in clean coal technology, including joint work on a radical solution—stripping out and burying greenhouse gases—which could save one-third of all energy related emissions by 2050.

Equality and Diversity

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Department has spent promoting equality and diversity in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: Defra is fully committed to the diversity and equality agenda and has policies 'embedded' throughout its HR policies as well as processes in place to ensure that there is no unfair discrimination on any grounds.
	Defra operates in a global market, and the UK is a multi-cultural society. Defra needs representatives from different ethnic backgrounds and different minority groups to compete in business terms. It needs staff who can understand its customers and their cultures, who can communicate with them effectively, reflecting the communities in which Defra works. These include the farming, fishing, food and water industries, together with other industries challenged to meet consumers' requirements, as well as the public itself living within either rural or urban areas.
	Defra's diversity and equality policies are promoted through a number of initiatives. These include funding of specific diversity and equality-related training courses; e-learning diversity training packages; in-house staff networks, which provide support for staff in minority groups; and mentoring schemes for minority groups.
	The current staffing figure for the Department's Diversity and Equality Unit is standing at 10, of which three are working on a part-time basis as part of Defra's flexible working opportunities.
	The latest available figures for the cost of these initiatives since Defra was created are indicated as follows:
	
		
			  Activity Type Cost 
		
		
			 2001–02 Training Diversity and Equality Training (Legislative Compliance and Diversity Management) 35,000 
			  Staff networks X4 In-house 1,300 
			 Total — — 36,300 
			 
			 2002–03 Training Diversity Toolkit(41) 4,784 
			   Diversity and Equality Training (Legislative Compliance and Diversity Management) (42)100,200 
			  (2002 2004)(43) Pathways and Disability 7,000 
			   Bursary (mentoring schemes) 5,000 
			  Staff networks X4 In-house 374 
			  Work Placements Fast Stream-Ethnic Minority Scheme 6,360 
			   Disabled Candidate Scheme 6,272 
			 Total — — 129,990 
			 
			 2003–04 Training Diversity and Equality Training (Legislative Compliance and Diversity Management) 52,800 
			   PC ROM e-learning multi-media package(44) 55,000 
			  Staff networks X5 In-house 3,669 
			  Work Placements Fast Stream—Ethnic Minority Scheme 6,840 
			 Total — — 118,309 
			 
			 2004–05 Training Diversity and Equality Training (Legislative Compliance and Diversity Management) 42,400 
			   PC ROM(45) 44,650 
			  Staff networks X5 In-house 7,140 
			 Total — — 94,190 
			 
			 2005 to date Training RRA Legislative Compliance 9,200 
			  Staff networks X6 In-house 368 
			 Total — — 9,568 
			 Grand total — — 388,357 
		
	
	(41) Development and production of Interactive computer training package dealing with diversity and equality issues.
	(42) The cost of diversity and Equality training here was high, due to the creation of Defra as a new Department.
	(43) The cost of these schemes was spread over two years.
	(44) This was an e-learning multi-media package, 'Looking Beyond The Difference' designed for use by individuals via Defra's intranet, and for corporate training—produced in conjunction with external consultants. Being in the lead with this package, Defra has demonstrated this to other Government Departments as sharing best practise, and DWP have asked for permission to re-brand.
	(45) "Looking Beyond The Difference"—further redevelopment of package.

Fishing Fleet

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the (a) size of the fishing fleet, (b) number of people directly involved in the (i) catching sector and (ii) processing sector and (c) the value and tonnage of landings for each nation of the UK.

Ben Bradshaw: There were 7,030 sea fishing vessels registered in the UK fleet on 1 January 2005. In 2004, there were 11,559 full and part-time fishermen employed in the UK catching sector and 18,180 full time equivalent employees working in the sea fish processing industry. Landings into the UK by the UK fishing fleet totalled 461.5 thousand tonnes in 2004, with a value of £405.6 million. Available information for each nation of the UK is given in the following table.
	
		Information for each nation of the UK for the year 2004 or as at the end of 2004
		
			  England Wales N. Ireland Scotland Total UK 
		
		
			 Number of UK sea fishing vessels at the end of year(47) 3,430 515 332 2,364 6,641 
			 Number of full and part-time fishermen employed in the catching sector 4,504 1,161 619 5,275 11,559 
			 Number of full time equivalents employed in the fish processing sector(48) 10,388 (48)— 724 7,068 18,180 
			   
			 Landings by UK vessels of sea fish into each nation of the UK:  
			 Quantity ('000 tonnes) 99.2 11.3 13.8 337.2 461.5 
			 Value (£ million) 120.4 10.4 14.3 260.5 405.6 
		
	
	(47) There are a further 389 vessels registered in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
	(48) Separate estimates are not available for employment in the fish processing sector for Wales—these figures are included in the estimate given for England.

Foxes

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate has been made of the fox population in London for each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: We are not aware that an estimate has been made of the fox population in London for each year since 1997. A report issued by Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in 1995 1 estimated the British urban fox population to be 33,000, but the total number of urban foxes has undoubtedly changed since then.
	1 Harris, S., Morris, P., Wray, S. and Yalden, D. (1995) A review of British mammals: population estimates and conservation status of British mammals other than cetaceans (Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough).

Fuel Poverty

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent on tackling fuel poverty in England and Wales in each year since 1997.

Elliot Morley: Fuel poverty is a devolved matter, and expenditure on fuel poverty in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government. The major programme to tackle fuel poverty in the private sector in England is Warm Front. Since its launch in June 2000, annual expenditure on Warm Front in England is:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 Scheme year Approximate total spend 
		
		
			 2000–01 72 
			 2001–02 197 
			 2002–03 163 
			 2003–04 164 
			 2004–05 166 
		
	
	The predecessor to the Warm Front scheme was the Home Energy Efficiency scheme. From June 1997 until May 2000, annual expenditure on the scheme was approximately £60 million.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2005, Official Report, columns 242–43W, on the private finance initiative, what total value of assets and liabilities for each of the listed private finance initiatives and public private partnerships is recorded on the Government balance sheet; what proportion of assets and liabilities is listed; what the accounting treatment is for assets and liabilities; and whether it is compatible with (a) generally-accepted accounting practices and (b) international financial reporting standards.

Jim Knight: Further to the answer of 14 June 2005, Official Report, columns 242–43W, additional information is as follows:
	(a) The PFI project undertaken by the core Department is to provide office facilities at Brooklands Avenue in Cambridge. No assets and liabilities for this project are recognised in the core Department's balance sheet. The accounting treatment is in line with the UK GAAP and IFRS requirements and is confirmed by the National Audit Office, the external auditor to the core Department. The notes to the accounts in the core Department's financial statements reflect the costs incurred and future commitments on the project.
	(b) For the Broadland Norfolk Flood Defence and Pevensey Bay Sea Defences PFI schemes—shown against Environment Agency—no assets and liabilities for these projects are recognised in the Environment Agency balance sheet. The accounting treatment accords with UK GAAP and IFRS requirements and is confirmed by the National Audit Office, external auditor to the Environment Agency. The notes to the accounts in the Environment Agency's financial statements reflect the costs incurred and future commitments on each scheme.
	(c) No assets or liabilities in respect of the PFI project—SPIRIT IT System—shown against the Countryside Agency are recognised in the Agency's balance sheet. The accounting treatment accords with UK GAAP and IFRS requirements and is confirmed by the National Audit Office, external auditor to the Environment Agency. The notes to the accounts in the Countryside Agency's financial statements reflect the costs incurred and future commitments on the project.
	(d) The four PPP schemes listed against British Waterways are classified by the Office for National Statistics as falling within the definition of a private sector company and as such fall outside British Waterways' balance sheet and hence Government's. Under these accounting arrangements, there are no liabilities and no recourse to Government Only the value of British Waterways' investment in each venture is accounted for in its balance sheet. The amounts currently invested are:
	Waterside Pub Partnership: £500,000
	Isis regeneration partnership: £10,750,000
	Wood Wharf Partnership: £86,000
	Watergrid: £0 (dormant)
	The accounting treatment is in accordance with UK GAAP and is reviewed annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers, British Waterways' auditors.

Recycling

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding (a) councils in England, (b) Birmingham and (c) Solihull have received to support recycling in each year since 1997.

Ben Bradshaw: The main source of funding for local authorities' waste management services is the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) block of annual Government grant. It is for the local authorities to decide what proportion of the block is invested in waste management services, including recycling.
	Funding is also being provided from a variety of other sources to help authorities improve recycling rates. The Waste Minimisation and Recycling (Challenge) Fund has made available funding totalling £275 million over the four years from 2002–03 to 2005–06 for specific projects to expand recycling operations.
	Through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), credits worth £355 million have been made available over the same period as an extra source of funding, with a further £535 million available in 2006–07 and 2007–08.
	In January 2004 my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Climate Change and the Environment, Elliot Morley, announced that a further £20 million would be given to local authorities with responsibility for waste in England to reduce spending pressures in 2004–05.
	In December 2004 the Government announced a targeted local authority Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant totalling £260 million over the three years between 2005–06 and 2007–08. A full list of allocations to each authority in England in 2005–06 is available on the DEFRA website. Authorities will receive further allocations in 2006–07 and 2007–08.
	The amounts received by Birmingham city council and Solihull metropolitan borough council to support recycling are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Birmingham city council 
			 National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund 347,384 — — — 
			 Grant to relieve spending pressures in the waste area — — 281,600 — 
			 Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant — — — 807,196 
			  
			 Solihull metropolitan borough council 
			 National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund 205,000 — — — 
			 Grant to relieve spending pressures in the waste area — — 55,120 — 
			 Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant — — — 158,033

Sewage

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the volume of sewage discharges from each sewage treatment works in north west London was in each of the last 10 years.

Elliot Morley: There are no sewage treatment works in north west London.
	The works that treat sewage from north west London are Mogden—in west London, and Beckton—in east London. However, they do not serve north west London exclusively, and it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the volume of their discharges which derive from north west London.

Sustainable Development

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on what action relating to sustainable development is (a) required and (b) undertaken by her Department's (i) executive agencies, (ii) advisory non-departmental bodies, (iii) executive non-departmental bodies, (iv) tribunals, (v) public corporations and (vi) other bodies.

Elliot Morley: All these bodies have commitments in the UK Government's sustainable development strategy and are required to deliver these commitments, while applying the sustainable development principles in the strategy. In December 2005, Defra and it's executive agencies will be publishing sustainable development action plans giving details of key sustainable development actions they will be delivering in 2006. Further information on other bodies could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.

Sustainable Development

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the annual spending by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies was on (i) electricity and (ii) on water and sewerage services in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was created on 8 June 2001.
	The annual spending on (a) electricity and (b) water and sewerage services for buildings at which Defra and its agencies have contractual responsibility was as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 (a) Defra 
			 Electricity 1,062,688 920,830 978,977 1,095,395 
			 Water and sewerage 181,066 151,170 138,714 137,397 
			  
			 (b) Executive agencies 
			 Electricity 1,229,560 1,662,247 1,382,569 1,684,433 
			 Water and sewerage 420,942 459,421 464,050 375,579

Sustainable Development

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she has put in place to ensure that her Department meets the targets set by the Department to ensure that all paper for printed publications brought by the Department is 60 per cent. recycled, of which a minimum is 75 per cent. post-consumer waste.

Jim Knight: The Sustainable Development in Government Report shows that Defra met the quick win target for paper for printed publications. This achievement owes much to the fact that most of Defra's printed publications are commissioned from a single central business unit using a central contract for recycled paper.
	This Department partnering ODPM and DfT in a collaborative procurement, promoted by OGC to other Government Departments as well as the wider public sector, established the contract. The contract was for the supply of a suite of recycled papers that met the published recycled standards, as well as evaluating the environmental credentials of the production process.

Sustainable Development

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list her Department's main suppliers of (i) copier paper, (ii) stationery, (iii) envelopes and (iv) paper for reports; in each case stating (a) the name of each paper used and (b) the recycled (and post-consumer recycled) content of each paper.

Jim Knight: The Department's main suppliers for (i) are Banner Business Suppliers, The Paper Company and Premier Paper; for (ii) are Banner Business Supplies, Office Depot; for (iii) is Banner Business Supplies; for (iv) are Robert Home Paper, Howard Smith Paper, James McNaughton, Premier Paper.
	The name of the white copier paper is Evolve which is 100 per cent. recycled fibre. For paper for reports, all papers meet the Defra criteria of uncoated paper containing 100 per cent. recycled fibre and coated paper containing not less than 75 per cent. recycled fibre.

Sustainable Development

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the role is of the Sustainable Development Commission; how and by whom its members are appointed; what the scientific credentials are of each of its members; and which of its members are known to have existing or past affiliations to green political organisations.

Elliot Morley: The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) is the principal Government adviser on sustainable development, reporting to the Prime Minister and to the leaders of the devolved administrations.
	The SDC's current remit is to advocate sustainable development across all sectors of the UK, particularly within Government (including the devolved administrations) and build consensus on the actions needed if further progress is to be achieved.
	However, this remit is under revision following a commitment in the UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy (Securing the future) to strengthen the SDC and expand its role to act as an independent 'watchdog' looking at Government's progress on the strategy.
	Members to the SDC are appointed by the Prime Minister and leaders of the devolved administrations. Appointments are made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice, and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) principles of merit and equal opportunities, with independent assessment, openness and transparency of process.
	The work of the commission is very wide-ranging, and commissioners are sought from a range of backgrounds to lead on specific areas of the commission's work, e.g. business, education, or energy and transport. During the selection process, candidates are assessed by merit against the advertised criteria, which focuses on demonstration of experience, not on formal qualifications. Therefore, details of specific scientific credentials of SDC commissioners are not held, but biographies of all commissioners are on the SDC's website: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/about_us/commissioners.html
	Full details of the Sustainable Development Commissioners interests are available on the SDC's website at www.sd-commission.org.uk

Timber

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to fund the maintenance of the central point of expertise on timber.

Elliot Morley: The question asks various Government Ministers what plans they have to fund the maintenance of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET). CPET is the responsibility of the Department and so I am replying on behalf of the Government.
	Defra has made an agreement with consultants ProForest to begin operating the CPET helpline and other services that will help UK public sector bodies and their suppliers to purchase their timber from legal and sustainable sources. It is possible that Defra will be able to meet the full cost of operating CPET from within its own financial resources. We will be able to forecast this more accurately in the light of the demands made on the CPET over the coming months. As a contingency measure Defra would be able to call on contributions agreed with some other Government Departments to help with any shortfall during the first three years of operation.

Management Consultants

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister what the total expenditure saved was in each of the last three years in his Department as a result of implementing recommendations by management consultancies.

Tony Blair: For these purposes my office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster today.

Identity Cards

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice his Department has received from chief information officers of other Government Departments and agencies on the identity cards scheme, with particular reference (a) to (i) NHS Connecting for Health, (ii) the Department for Work and Pensions, (iii) HM Revenue and Customs, (iv) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (v) the UK Passports Agency and (b) to the (A) costs and (B) feasibility of the project.

Charles Clarke: The Identity Cards Programme Team has regular and wide ranging discussions across Government in relation to different aspects of the scheme, including the organisations listed in the question. These discussions have informed the contents of the Regulatory Impact Assessment, which was published on 25 May 2005, and the Identity Cards Scheme Benefits Overview, which was published on 28 June 2005.

Identity Card

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the basis is for the statement on page 8 of the document, "Identity Cards Scheme Benefits Overview", that the ability for the police to check scene of crime marks against the National Identity Register will result in savings of £40 million per annum; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Clarke: We have used Home Office statistics on the success of police fingerprint systems and our understanding of the proposed operation of the Identity Card Scheme to model the benefit of identifying scenes of crime fingerprint lifts over and above that of existing police processes.
	As more fingerprint lifts are identified, the police are able to eliminate those with legitimate access more quickly from their investigation while developing additional leads on suspects. Some of these leads will result in crime detections and halt criminal careers. This in turn will contribute to reducing economic harm caused by crime, which has also been well researched.
	Together, these pieces of research allowed us to quantify the benefits of the ID card in this area at 40 million.

Illegal Immigrants

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employers have been fined for employing illegal immigrants in each year since 1997.

Charles Clarke: The latest available information on the number of persons found guilty under Section 8 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1996 for employing illegal immigrants and those found guilty under section 25 (1) of the Immigration Act 1971 relating to the entry of an illegal entrant are shown in the following table.
	Section 25 (1) of the Immigration Act 1971 is legislation related to facilitating the entry of an illegal entrant. Some of those cases will have involved people who import and supply illegal workers. Offences of knowingly facilitating the entry of an asylum claimant, or leave to remain of a person, by means of deception were added by the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 Section 8 and it came into force on 27 January 1997.
	
		Persons found guilty of offences under Immigration Acts 1971 Section 25 (1) and 1996 Section 8, at all courts, England and Wales 1997 to 2003 Number of persons
		
			   Found guilty 
			 Act and Section Offence(50) description 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003(51) 
		
		
			 Asylum and Immigration Act 1996   
			 8 Employing a person subject to immigration control n/a 1 1 4 1 1 1 
			  
			 Immigration Act 1971(52)   
			 25 (1) (a) Knowingly facilitating the entry of an illegal entrant 130 115 149 141 141 204 165 
			 25 (1) (b) Knowingly facilitating the entry of an asylum claimant (53)— 3 6 3 9 5 9 
			  
			 25 (1) (c) Knowingly facilitating leave to remain of persons by means of deception 1 5 6 7 3 6 9 
		
	
	n/a = ot applicable.
	(50) Principal immigration offence.
	(51) Provisional figures.
	(52) As added by Section 5 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996.
	(53) Nil.

Illegal Immigrants

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal immigrants have been found within UK borders in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: The number of persons who have had enforcement action initiated against them as illegal entrants in each year since 1997 is given in the accompanying table.
	People who have had enforcement action initiated against them may then be removed from the country. There may be some barriers to removal including:
	judicial or human rights applications;
	lack of documentation (without which an applicant cannot be returned);
	absence of a travel route, lack of co-operation from receiving countries or scheduled flight services (resulting in lengthy documentation processes or use of charter flights).
	Alternatively, some people may decide to leave voluntarily, after enforcement action has been initiated against them and others may chose to leave via assisted voluntary returns programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration.
	Information on persons who have had enforcement action initiated against them in 2004 will be included in the Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2004. This was published in August and is available on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
	
		Persons against whom illegal entry enforcement action was initiated, 1997 to 2003(54)(55)
		
			  Number of persons 
		
		
			 1997 14,390 
			 1998 16,500 
			 1999 21,165 
			 2000 47,325 
			 2001 69,875 
			 2002 48,050 
			 2003(56) — 
		
	
	(54) Illegal entrants detected and issued enforcement notice.
	(55) Figures rounded to the nearest 5.
	(56) Data were not of sufficient quality for publication in 2003, however it is estimated that 22,950 illegal entrants had enforcement action initiated against them in this year. Due to poor data quality this is not an official national statistic.

Policy Costings

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costings of (a) Liberal Democrat and (b) Conservative party policies his Department has (i) undertaken, (ii) co-ordinated in the previous 12 months and (iii) advised upon in the previous 12 months.

Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 18 July 2005, Official Report, column 1334W.

Press Office

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on the Department's press office; and how many press officers have been employed in each year since 2002.

Charles Clarke: Press Officers within the Home Office are employed at the Information Officer (IO) and Senior Information Officer (SIO) grades.
	The Press Office spend for each year includes pay costs (all grades); overtime (all grades); all general office running costs and all other Press Office expenditure.
	
		
			  Total Spend (£) 
		
		
			 2002–03 39 3,009,489 
			 2003–04 39 2,959,966 
			 2004–05(58) 43 (58)2,777,578 
		
	
	(58) 2004–05, based on the latest financial reports. However, the accounts have not yet closed and the total may change due to any reconciling that takes place.
	The Press Office expanded in 2000–01 following an external consultant's review of its operation in 1999. The review recommended the creation of the "Newsdesk" so as to better meet the demands of the media. This improved efficiency from 'losing' in excess of 20 per cent. of the calls pre expansion, to a position where from June 2003 to June 2004, 91.8 per cent. of the 67,070 press calls received by the Newsdesk were answered.
	The Home Office press office and the Prison Service press office merged in May 2001.
	In 2003–04 the Press Office Newsdesk answered 60,039 calls; Press Office issued 583 press notices and held 29 briefings for the media. The Press Office operates 24 hours a day/7 days a week to meet demands of the 24 hour news agenda.

Stolen Passports

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports were stolen in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by police force area; and how many of those passports were subsequently used fraudulently.

Andy Burnham: holding answer 5 July 2005
	The numbers of passports reported as lost or stolen for the last three years are as follows:
	2002—166,358
	2003—184,301
	2004—306,406
	The figures for 2002 and 2003 are collated from applications for replacement passports, and therefore may not accurately reflect all passports that were lost or stolen in those years. The figures for 2004 have been collated from new arrangements that more accurately reflect the numbers of passports reported to the UK Passport Service (UKPS) as lost or stolen. The reporting process does not discriminate between passports reported as lost and those reported as stolen. It is not possible to break down these totals by police force area, and UKPS do not have figures on the subsequent use of such passports in fraudulent activities.

Benefit Fraud

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many convictions for benefit fraud there were in each year since 1997.

James Plaskitt: The information is in the table.
	
		Convictions for benefit fraud
		
			 April to March DWP Local authorities 
		
		
			 1997–98 11,386 700 
			 1998–99 9,967 800 
			 1999–2000 9,129 900 
			 2000–01 11,403 1,100 
			 2001–02 11,183 1,732 
			 2002–03 9,267 2,503 
			 2003–04 9,091 3,747 
			 2004–05 8,573 4,688 
		
	
	Note:
	1. For local authorities, figures prior to 2001–02 have been rounded to the nearest 100 because they include estimated values for non-responding local authorities.
	Sources:
	1. DSS/DWP figures are taken from Fraud Information By Sector and National Investigation Service (NIS) Resource Management.
	2. From 2001–02 onwards, the numbers are taken from subsidy claim forms. Prior to this, the numbers are taken from management information returns.

Pensioners

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many state retirement pensioners there are in Doncaster, North.

Stephen Timms: The number of state pension recipients in the parliamentary constituency of Doncaster, North as at 30 September 2004 was 16,100.
	Notes:
	1. Figure is rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Figure is based on a five per cent. sample and is therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, five per cent. sample.

Recycling

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list his Department's main suppliers of (a) copier paper, (b) stationery, (c) envelopes and (d) paper for reports in each case stating (i) the name of each paper used and (ii) the recycled and post consumer recycled content of each paper.

James Plaskitt: The information is as follows.
	Copier Paper:
	Banner Business Supplies
	Office Depot
	The Paper Company
	Glenmore
	Premier Paper
	Recycled Paper used to date:
	Evolve Office 100 per cent. recycled, 100 per cent. pcw
	Niceday 3500 100 per cent. recycled, 80 per cent. pcw
	Xerox Recycled 100 per cent. recycled, 100 per cent. pcw.
	From 1 September 2005 the sole supplier will be Banner Business Supplies.
	Stationery
	Edwin Buckley and Co. Ltd.
	Trafford Print Colour Ltd.
	Printed stationery has no recycled content.
	Envelopes
	Banner Business Supplies 100 per cent. recycled buff manila 80gsm
	Reports
	New Town
	Astron
	Sandy Press
	Belmont Press
	During 2003–04, of the total volume of paper purchased for printed materials (5,164 metric tonnes) 41 per cent. met the 75 per cent. recycled content specification contained within the Government "Quick Wins". Figures are not yet available for 2004–05—however from January 2006 the Department will be using only recycled paper (100 per cent. post consumer waste).

Sustainable Development

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what arrangements his Department has made to report publicly on its key sustainable development impacts.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions produces an annual report on its sustainable development impacts which is available in the Library The report is available to the public via the Department's internet site, although a hard copy can be provided upon request. The report contains information on progress on the targets contained within the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate" and also the consequences of the wider social impacts of the Department's operations.

Vehicle Emissions

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what change there has been in (a) road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions and (b) incidence of single occupancy car commuting in his Department since (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05.

James Plaskitt: The following table gives figures for road transport vehicle carbon emissions:
	
		Vehicle emissions
		
			  Kg CO 2 Reduction (percentage) 
		
		
			 2003–04 20,191,096 — 
			 2004–05 14,895,328 26 
		
	
	The Department measures and reports on CO 2 emissions for road transport vehicles as its contribution to target B1 of the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate". During 2004–05 changes have been made to improve the data collected to measure progress against this target, as well as to the calculation methodology.
	The Department has already stated its intention not to gather information on single occupancy car commuting for target B3 of the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate" as this would be excessively resource intensive, given the size of the estate—there are currently 117,000 staff located across 1,700 sites. The Department continues to encourage the use of Green Travel.

Acute Hospitals

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the proportion of patients in acute hospitals who (a) have written care plans and (b) are allocated a named nurse; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: Data is not collected for either the number of patients with written care plans nor the number of patients with a named nurse.
	All patients should have a written care plan and be allocated a named nurse when they are admitted to hospital.

Aimspro

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many multiple sclerosis sufferers have been treated with Aimspro on a trial basis; and what assessment has been made of the effects;
	(2)  for what reasons the manufacturers of Aimspro have recently been instructed to stop supplying the drug to multiple sclerosis sufferers; and what assessment has been made of the effects;
	(3)  what estimate she has made of the numbers of (a) multiple sclerosis sufferers waiting to use and (b) prescribing general practitioners waiting to prescribe Aimspro;
	(4)  if she will take urgent steps to resolve the issues which have led to the withdrawal of Aimspro from multiple sclerosis sufferers who have been receiving it on a trial basis.

Jane Kennedy: Twelve patients entered an authorised clinical trial at an Oxford hospital, although one of these dropped out before completion. A number of patients were recruited into an authorised clinical trial at a London hospital, but the trial was halted with only one patient completed. No other authorised clinical trials of Aimspro have been conducted in the United Kingdom.
	The Oxford trial examined the effectiveness of Aimspro in visual impairment associated with optic neuritis. The trial failed in its primary and secondary endpoints, but showed some apparent improvement in peripheral vision. However, the effect was not significantly different to placebo. The results do not support Daval International's claim of "dramatic improvement".
	The manufacture and supply of Aimspro is subject to the manufacturer holding the necessary manufacturing authorisation issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and supported by the MHRA's medicines inspectorate.
	No instructions have been issued to the manufacturers of Aimspro to stop supplying the drug. None of the product is currently available because the nominated manufacturer is not able to manufacture the product to acceptable standards and remains unlicensed.
	No data are available to inform an assessment of the effects resulting from the non-availability of Aimspro.
	There are approximately 85,000 multiple sclerosis sufferers in the UK. The Department has no knowledge of the number of those who are waiting to use Aimspro nor of the number of prescribing general practitioners waiting to prescribe Aimspro.
	The MHRA has provided Daval International and its nominated contract manufacturer with a considerable amount of help and advice since early 2005 concerning the manufacture of Aimspro. The nominated manufacturer is not currently able to manufacture the product to acceptable standards and remains unlicensed. The MHRA has advised Daval on the use of alternative licensed manufacturers and continues to liaise closely with the company regarding manufacturing and supply issues.The speed with which the product can be made available for use in clinical trials or for supply on a named-patient basis is dependent on the progress that Daval and the manufacturer of Aimspro wish to make.

Avian Flu

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) advice and (b) resources her Department is giving to London health authorities to prepare for a potential avian influenza epidemic; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Department has published operational guidance for the national health service, entitled "Influenza Pandemic Contingency Planning: Operational Guidance for Health Service Planners", to help inform planning in NHS organisations. In addition, the Department has tasked the Health Protection Agency to produce infection control guidance and clinical management protocols, which will help NHS in planning effectively. These will be available in the next few months. Further guidance and information is available on the Department's website at: www.dh.gov.uk/pandemicflu
	Planning for emergencies is a core task for NHS bodies. The Government are purchasing 14.6 million courses of antivirals for the NHS to use in treating cases of pandemic influenza and has recently invited manufacturers to tender for a contract to supply a limited amount of vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza. This vaccine could offer some protection against a H5N1 influenza strain and could be used to support the NHS response.

Blood Donation (Castle Point)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people from Castle Point have given blood in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: The number of blood donors in the Castle Point area is not held centrally. However, the National Blood Service has data for the number of active blood donors for the Anglia region, of which Castle Point is a part, and the total number of collections made in the Anglia region over the last five years, which is shown in the table.
	
		Anglia region
		
			  Average size of active donor base  Total collections 
		
		
			 2001–02 194,447 283,375 
			 2002–03 186,633 275,115 
			 2003–04 177,152 272,232 
			 2004–05 171,003 256,586

Carers

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of carers who have received an assessment of their needs.

Liam Byrne: In 2003–04, an estimated 348,000 carers received a carers assessment or review during the year in England, either separately or jointly with the client. Around 70,000 of these carers were assessed or reviewed separately.

Continuing Care

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which stakeholders have been consulted in the development of the proposed new framework for continuing care funding.

Liam Byrne: Work to produce the national framework for continuing care is ongoing, as is stakeholder communication, engagement and involvement.
	My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) met with the ombudsman specifically to discuss continuing care, and the subject will have come up in numerous visits and meetings. I have met with local authority representatives and also with the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the General Social Care Council and Turning Point, when the subject of continuing care was raised.
	Officials have studied the evidence given to the Health Select Committee inquiry on continuing care. Regular meetings take place with staff from the ombudsman's office to ensure their full participation and involvement in the development of the national framework.
	Officials held three national meetings on continuing care; on 17 December 2004, 19 January 2005 and 4 March 2005 to start to scope the issues that the national framework is to address and gather suggestions for ways forward. These meetings were attended by representatives from the ombudsman's office and representatives from strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and local authorities including representatives from the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS).
	Meetings and/or discussions have also occurred with numerous organisations, members of the public, researchers and academics, including the Royal College of Nursing, Help the Aged, Age Concern, the Alzheimer's Society and the Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance.
	Officials have also had contact with these bodies, and with many other voluntary organisations and professional bodies including the English Community Care Association, Leonard Cheshire, Carers UK, POhWER, the British Medical Association, the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service, the ADSS and the LGA, Radar, Headway, the Neurological Alliance, Scope, the National Care Forum, the National Centre for Independent Living, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations and the National Care Homes Association. Many of these attended the stakeholder summit that was held on 21 July to share progress, and to gain contributions in from organisations with patients and service users, carer networks and professional organisations.
	An electronic discussion forum has been established for regular communication and through which staff from across the health and social care community and wider stakeholder groups can contribute to specific parts of the framework.

Deaf/Blind Disabilities

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what services are available for those with deafblind disabilities within Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what intervenor services are supplied specifically to children affected with deafblind or similar disabilities within Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Dentistry

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what limit she has set on the number of new patients an individual dental practice can take as part of the pilots for the new NHS dental contract.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has not set a limit on the number of additional national health service patients a practice maybe contracted to look after as part of a pilot personal dental service arrangement. The number of additional patients will depend upon the individual circumstances of the practice and the proposed pilot arrangements.

Dentistry

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost was of an NHS dental check-up in each London borough in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The cost for a national health service dental check-up, defined in the Statement of Dental Remuneration as clinical examination, advice, charting—including monitoring of periodontal status—and report, is fixed across England.
	This cost is set by the Department and changes each year, usually in April. However, in both December 1997 and December 1998, there were changes made to costs.
	The dentist fees and patient charges, which are charged at 80 per cent. of dentists fees, since 1997 are shown in the table.
	
		
			   £ 
			   Date   Dentist fees Patients charge (80 per cent. of dentist fees) 
		
		
			 April 1997 5.30 4.24 
			 December 1997 5.40 4.32 
			 April 1998 5.65 4.52 
			 December 1998 5.80 4.64 
			 April 1999 5.95 4.76 
			 April 2000 6.15 4.92 
			 April 2001 6.40 5.12 
			 April 2002 6.65 5.32 
			 April 2003 6.85 5.48 
			 April 2004 7.05 5.64 
			 April 2005 7.30 5.84

Dentistry

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost was of a national health service dental check-up in Southend in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: The cost for a national health service dental check-up, defined as "clinical examination, advice, charting (including monitoring of periodontal status) and report", in the Statement of Dental Remuneration, is fixed across England. This cost is set by the Department and changes each year, usually in April. However, in January 1994, December 1996, 1997, 1998 there were also changes made to costs.
	The dentist fees and patient charges (80 per cent. of fee) since 1994 are shown in the table.
	
		
			   £ 
			 Date Dentist fee Patient charge 
		
		
			 January 1994 4.75 3.80 
			 April 1994 4.90 3.92 
			 April 1995 5.00 4.00 
			 April 1996 5.15 4.12 
			 December 1996 5.20 4.16 
			 April 1997 5.30 4.24 
			 December 1997 5.40 4.32 
			 April 1998 5.65 4.52 
			 December 1998 5.80 4.64 
			 April 1999 5.95 4.76 
			 April 2000 6.15 4.92 
			 April 2001 6.40 5.12 
			 April 2002 6.65 5.32 
			 April 2003 6.85 5.48 
			 April 2004 7.05 5.64 
			 April 2005 7.30 5.84 
		
	
	Note:
	Some adult patients (around 25 per cent.) and all children are exempt from charges.

Dentistry

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered national health service dentists there are in each London borough.

Rosie Winterton: The table shows the number of dentists with open general dental services (CDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contracts in London local authorities as at 31 August 2005.
	
		CDS and PDS: Numbers of dentists in London local authorities (LAs) as at 31 August 2005
		
			 LA area Number 
		
		
			 City of London 13 
			 Barking and Dagenham 65 
			 Barnet 212 
			 Bexley 100 
			 Brent 178 
			 Bromley 173 
			 Camden 175 
			 Croydon 215 
			 Ealing 214 
			 Enfield 168 
			 Greenwich 122 
			 Hackney 84 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 155 
			 Haringey 144 
			 Harrow 134 
			 Havering 127 
			 Hillingdon 137 
			 Hounslow 151 
			 Islington 133 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 96 
			 Kingston upon Thames 82 
			 Lambeth 151 
			 Lewisham 132 
			 Merton 111 
			 Newham 112 
			 Redbridge 153 
			 Richmond upon Thames 112 
			 Southwark 111 
			 Sutton 109 
			 Tower Hamlets 99 
			 Waltham Forest 115 
			 Wandsworth 173 
			 Westminster 205 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures are based on the numbers of dentists with open GDS or PDS contracts.
	2. The dentists include principals, assistants and trainees.
	3. Prison contracts have not been included in this analysis.
	4. The areas have been defined using practice postcodes within the specified area.
	5. The figures provide a snapshot of the number of individual dentists with an open contract at 31 August.
	6. A dentist with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much national health service treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the primary care trust.
	7. The Dental Practice Board has no information concerning the amount of time dedicated to NHS work by individual dentists.
	8. The figures take into account any notifications received up to 15 September 2005.
	9. Areas have been defined using the Office of National Statistics all fields postcode directory—February 2005.
	Source:
	Dental Practice Board.

Dentistry

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been registered with an NHS dentist in each primary care trust in England in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05.

Rosie Winterton: Registration data has been placed in the Library. Data for 2003 and 2004 includes personal dental service counts of patients seen in the past 15 months as a proxy for registrations for some schemes. This is to give greater consistency with registrations data for the general dental service, which has a 15 month re-registration period. Many personal dental service schemes use longer periods and some, such as dental access centres, do not require patients to register.

Departmental Buildings

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total floor space area is of buildings owned or leased by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies.

Jane Kennedy: The Department and its executive agencies occupy two freehold properties comprising 23,217.8 square metres (m 2 ) both occupied by the Department; and 25 leased properties comprising 48,268.02 m 2 occupied by the Department and 17,641.10 m 2 occupied by its agencies.

Departmental Expenditure

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual expenditure was by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies on (i) electricity and (ii) water and sewerage services in each year since 1997.

Jane Kennedy: Costs for the Department's London estate are shown in the tables.
	
		
			   £ 
			  Electricity Water and sewerage 
		
		
			 1997–98 615,007 36,396 
			 1998–99 614,783 33,614 
			 1999–2000 634,859 32,607 
			 2000–01 545,079 32,224 
			 2001–02 579,102 29,009 
			 2002–03 551,938 34,684 
			 2003–04 572,782 29,372 
			 2004–05 695,834 30,689 
		
	
	London staff of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) occupy buildings where the utilities are included within the service charge. Figures for electricity costs only are available as shown in the tables.
	
		
			  £ 
			  Electricity 
		
		
			 1997–98 58,654 
			 1998–99 53,124 
			 1999–2000 48,124 
			 2000–01 49,219 
			 2001–02 53,689 
			 2002–03 50,382 
			 2003–04 57,855 
			 2004–05 63,864 
		
	
	The National Health Service Purchasing and Supplies Authority (NHS PASA) became an agency of the Department in April 2000. Figures for the years following are shown in the tables.
	
		
			   £ 
			  Electricity Water and sewerage 
		
		
			 2000–01 23,591 3,704 
			 2001–02 32,901 2,576 
			 2002–03 38,570 2,476 
			 2003–04 30,122 2,292 
			 2004–05 39,404 2,118 
		
	
	The activities of the NHS Pensions Agency transferred from the Department to the NHS with effect from 1 April 2004. Figures for previous years are shown in the table.
	
		
			   £ 
			  Electricity Water and sewerage 
		
		
			 1997–98 60,554 26,237 
			 1998–99 61,333 27,459 
			 1999–2000 55,326 30,675 
			 2000–01 50,678 13,542 
			 2001–02 52,919 23,026 
			 2002–03 46,787 24,218 
			 2003–04 56,309 27,003 
		
	
	The NHS Estates Agency occupied rented office space in Leeds city centre, where its energy and water costs were included in the service charge.

Diagnostic Scans

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diagnostic scans were carried out in the Essex Health Authority area in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: Data on the total number of diagnostic scans is not centrally available. Data is, however, collected on the number of imaging and radiodiagnostic examinations or tests. The latest data for 2003–04 is available on the Department's website at www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.

Direct Payments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many direct payments have been made in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority.

Liam Byrne: The following table shows the number of adults aged 18 and over receiving direct payments at some point during the year by councils with social services responsibilities (CSSRs) in England, for the years 2000–01 to 2003–04. Data for earlier years is not centrally available.
	
		Number of clients receiving direct payments at some point during the year, 2000–01 to 2003–04(62) Rounded numbers
		
			 CSSR 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 England(63) 5,000 6,300 9,600 17,000 
			  
			 Barking 10 10 20 30 
			 Barnet 50 50 120 150 
			 Barnsley 40 70 80 40 
			 Bath (64)— (64)— 20 30 
			 Bedfordshire 10 30 40 80 
			 Bexley 10 10 20 40 
			 Birmingham (64)— (64)— (64)— (64)— 
			 Blackburn 0 10 30 40 
			 Blackpool 10 10 40 50 
			 Bolton 10 20 40 100 
			 Bournemouth 50 20 30 40 
			 Bracknell (65)— (65)— (65)— 20 
			 Bradford (64)— 30 40 120 
			 Brent 10 30 20 30 
			 Brighton 10 20 50 50 
			 Bristol 70 80 110 140 
			 Bromley 10 10 10 (64)— 
			 Buckinghamshire 30 30 60 150 
			 Bury 0 20 20 20 
			 Calderdale 10 20 30 30 
			 Cambridgeshire 30 80 150 230 
			 Camden 20 40 90 140 
			 Cheshire 60 100 140 250 
			 City of London 0 0 0 (65)— 
			 Cornwall 40 50 70 460 
			 Coventry (64)— (64)— 180 190 
			 Croydon 20 50 80 140 
			 Cumbria 50 80 150 170 
			 Darlington 10 10 30 50 
			 Derby 30 40 60 130 
			 Derbyshire 70 100 160 220 
			 Devon (65)— 60 90 130 
			 Doncaster (64)— 0 50 80 
			 Dorset 20 30 60 110 
			 Dudley 10 10 10 50 
			 Durham 30 90 160 260 
			 Ealing (65)— 20 30 50 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 0 (65)— 10 50 
			 East Sussex 20 60 100 150 
			 Enfield 10 20 30 70 
			 Essex (64)— (64)— (64)— (64)— 
			 Gateshead 20 30 40 70 
			 Gloucestershire 50 80 100 190 
			 Greenwich 70 90 110 170 
			 Hackney 30 (64)— 30 (64)— 
			 Halton 0 20 40 70 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 30 30 30 50 
			 Hampshire 480 580 660 750 
			 Haringey 0 0 50 80 
			 Harrow 10 20 20 40 
			 Hartlepool (64)— (64)— 10 20 
			 Havering 0 0 (65)— 10 
			 Herefordshire 20 30 50 70 
			 Hertfordshire 80 90 110 200 
			 Hillingdon 830 20 90 100 
			 Hounslow (65)— (65)— 30 80 
			 Isle of Wight 10 10 30 60 
			 Isle of Scilly 0 0 0 0 
			 Islington (65)— 10 10 40 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 20 20 30 40 
			 Kent 40 60 80 310 
			 Kingston upon Hull (65)— 10 10 60 
			 Kingston upon Thames 70 70 80 90 
			 Kirklees 10 30 110 160 
			 Knowsley 10 10 20 50 
			 Lambeth 20 40 60 80 
			 Lancashire 10 40 200 340 
			 Leicester (65)— 60 70 90 
			 Leicestershire 60 60 90 130 
			 Lewisham 30 30 30 40 
			 Lincolnshire (64)— (64)— 70 160 
			 Liverpool 30 50 70 100 
			 Luton (64)— (65)— 20 40 
			 Manchester (64)— (64)— (64)— (64)— 
			 Medway 10 30 40 50 
			 Merton (65)— 10 30 50 
			 Middlesbrough 10 20 30 40 
			 Milton Keynes 10 50 50 70 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne (64)— 30 80 60 
			 Newham (65)— 10 20 40 
			 Norfolk 90 140 210 260 
			 North East Lincolnshire 0 0 30 50 
			 North Lincolnshire 10 10 20 20 
			 North Somerset 20 20 40 60 
			 North Tyneside 30 10 10 20 
			 North Yorkshire 40 170 20 80 
			 Northamptonshire 50 80 80 80 
			 Northumberland (65)— 10 20 40 
			 Nottingham (64)— (64)— 60 80 
			 Nottinghamshire 80 100 170 370 
			 Oldham (65)— 10 40 80 
			 Oxfordshire (64)— (64)— (64)— 170 
			 Peterborough (65)— 10 20 20 
			 Plymouth (65)— (65)— 10 30 
			 Poole 10 20 20 30 
			 Portsmouth 100 90 90 110 
			 Reading (65)— (65)— 10 20 
			 Redbridge (65)— 40 30 50 
			 Redcar (65)— (65)— 30 40 
			 Richmond 20 30 40 70 
			 Rochdale (65)— 20 20 40 
			 Rotherham (65)— 20 20 40 
			 Rutland (65)— (65)— 10 10 
			 Salford (64)— 30 50 70 
			 Sandwell (65)— (65)— 30 130 
			 Sefton 10 30 30 100 
			 Sheffield 0 60 80 100 
			 Shropshire (65)— 70 80 140 
			 Slough (64)— 0 (65)— 10 
			 Solihull 20 20 20 40 
			 Somerset 120 150 190 270 
			 South Gloucestershire 30 40 40 70 
			 South Tyneside (64)— (64)— (64)— (64)— 
			 Southampton 190 200 240 410 
			 Southend 10 10 30 50 
			 Southwark (65)— 30 30 50 
			 St. Helens 0 10 20 70 
			 Staffordshire 10 60 90 160 
			 Stockport 0 0 40 90 
			 Stockton on Tees (65)— 10 30 60 
			 Stoke on Trent 20 20 110 180 
			 Suffolk 0 0 0 230 
			 Sunderland (65)— 10 10 170 
			 Surrey (64)— (64)— (64)— (64)— 
			 Sutton 10 10 10 20 
			 Swindon 10 40 40 40 
			 Tameside 20 20 40 160 
			 Telford 10 10 40 50 
			 Thurrock 0 20 20 20 
			 Torbay (65)— 20 30 30 
			 Tower Hamlets (65)— 10 10 40 
			 Trafford 50 30 10 70 
			 Wakefield 0 10 20 60 
			 Walsall (64)— 10 20 30 
			 Waltham Forest 90 70 60 70 
			 Wandsworth 0 10 10 50 
			 Warrington (65)— 30 40 70 
			 Warwickshire 80 90 130 150 
			 West Berkshire (65)— 10 10 30 
			 West Sussex (65)— 170 150 200 
			 Westminster 40 30 50 60 
			 Wigan 20 40 70 110 
			 Wiltshire 80 70 100 170 
			 Windsor 0 0 20 30 
			 Wirral 0 20 40 130 
			 Wokingham 0 (65)— 10 10 
			 Wolverhampton (65)— 10 10 20 
			 Worcestershire (64)— 30 60 280 
			 York 10 (65)— (65)— 30 
		
	
	(62) Data is for adults aged 18 and over.
	(63) England figures contain estimated data.
	(64) Less than six.
	(65) Missing data.
	Source:
	RAP proforma P2f.

Drug Addicts (Hemel Hempstead)

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate her Department has made of the number of drug addicts in the Hemel Hempstead constituency; and how many are in a treatment programme.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has no estimate of number of drug addicts in the Hemel Hempstead constituency. Data is not collected as to the number of people receiving treatment for drug addiction within Hemel Hempstead. However, in 2003–04, the latest year for which data is available, there were 1,675 in structured drug treatments in Hertfordshire, of which Hemel Hempstead is a part.

Drug Trials

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many random controlled drug trials her Department has undertaken in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Kennedy: The Department funds research to support policy and to provide the evidence needed to underpin quality improvement and service development in the national health service; and through the health technology assessment programme funds research into the effectiveness, appropriateness and cost of health treatment and prevention regimes. Over the last 10 years, research projects funded as part of these and other centrally funded programmes have included some 48 randomised controlled trials.
	Over 75 per cent. of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. Details of individual projects, including those classified as randomised controlled trials, can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research.

East Midlands Ambulance Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if her Department will take steps to investigate the response times of the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

Rosie Winterton: In line with our policy of "Shifting the Balance of Power", it is now for primary care trusts (PCTs,) in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders, to plan, develop and improve services for local people. Within the framework set out in the NHS Plan and other policy documents, PCTs, with their specialised knowledge of the local community, are effectively able to manage and improve local services.

Freedom of Information

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests have been answered by the Department; and in how many cases (a) information was wholly exempted, (b) information was partly exempted and (c) the requests were answered in full.

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Solicitor-General, Harriet Harman, on 12 September 2005, Official Report, column 2248W.

Gynaecologists

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered national health service gynaecologists there are in each London borough.

Jane Kennedy: The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. However, the table shows the latest figures for the number of medical staff with a speciality in obstetrics and gynaecology within London government office region (GOR) by strategic health authority (SHA) as at 30 September 2004.
	
		Hospital, public health medicine and community health services: medical staff with a specialty in obstetrics and gynaecology within London GOR by SHA as at 30 September 2004 Numbers
		
			   Number Full-time equivalent 
		
		
			 London GOR  969 875 
			 North central London Q05 200 174 
			 North east London Q06 174 167 
			 North west London Q04 252 216 
			 South east London Q07 207 193 
			 South west London Q08 136 125 
		
	
	Source:
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre medical and dental workforce census

Hip Replacements (Castle Point)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for a hip replacement was in the Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: The number of elective finished in-year admissions for hip replacement surgery (waiting list and booked cases) for residents within the Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust area are shown in the table.
	
		days
		
			  Median waiting time 
		
		
			 1999–2000 242 
			 2000–01 278 
			 2001–02 323 
			 2002–03 300 
			 2003–04 273 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the datayear. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
	2. The main operation is the first recorded operation in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and is usually the most resource intensive procedure performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main operation when looking at admission details, eg. time waited, but the figures for "all operations count of episodes" give a more complete count of episodes with an operation.
	3. Time waited statistics from HES are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment on a specific date and how long they have been on the waiting list. Also, HES calculates the time waited as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
	4. Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data is ungrossed).
	Source:
	HES, health and social care.

Human Genetics, Fertility and Tissue Commission

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she intends to follow the recommendations of the Select Committee on Science and Technology's Fifth Report and create a new Human Genetics, Fertility and Tissue Commission.

Jane Kennedy: The Government published their response to the report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, "Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law", on 16 August 2005. Copies are available in the Library.
	The Government considered whether to establish a single commission with a remit covering the entirety of bioethics issues as part of the Department's review of its arm's length bodies. This was rejected, after careful consideration, on the basis that the present distributed model of advisory bodies with more specific briefs remained the best option as it enables specific bioethical issues to be addressed by dedicated groups with the appropriate expertise and sufficient time to devote to the issue.

London Health Authorities (Financial Position)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the latest financial position is of each (a) London health authority and (b) London primary care trust.

Jane Kennedy: The 2004–05 financial positions of each London strategic health authority (SHA) and London primary care trust (PCT) are shown in the tables.
	
		2004–05 financial position of London SHAs £000
		
			 SHA Final surplus/deficit 
		
		
			 North Central London 22,498 
			 North East London 11,874 
			 North West London 5,977 
			 South East London 11,009 
			 South West London 9,639 
			 Total surplus/deficit 60,997 
		
	
	Note:
	2004–05 data must be treated as provisional until signed off by the National Audit Office/Chief Executive.
	Source:
	Audited summarisation schedules 2004–05.
	
		2004–05 financial position of London PCTs £000
		
			 PCT Final surplus/deficit 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 263 
			 Barnet 591 
			 Bexley Care Trust -2,749 
			 Brent Teaching 750 
			 Bromley 35 
			 Camden 114 
			 City and Hackney Teaching 43 
			 Croydon 116 
			 Ealing 12 
			 Enfield 103 
			 Greenwich Teaching 132 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 679 
			 Haringey Teaching 1 
			 Harrow -969 
			 Havering -3,258 
			 Hillingdon -13,470 
			 Hounslow -6,171 
			 Islington 20 
			 Kensington and Chelsea -17,976 
			 Kingston -1,853 
			 Lambeth 713 
			 Lewisham 193 
			 Newham 279 
			 Redbridge 82 
			 Richmond and Twickenham 117 
			 Southwark 146 
			 Sutton and Merton 0 
			 Tower Hamlets 493 
			 Waltham Forest -2,538 
			 Wandsworth -8,237 
			 Westminster 13 
			 Total surplus/deficits -52,326 
		
	
	Note:
	2004–05 data must be treated as provisional until signed off by the National Audit Office/Chief Executive.
	Source:
	Audited summarisation schedules 2004–05.

Medical Students

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to expand the number of places for graduate fast-track medical students; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: The Department and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be looking at the case for further expansion of undergraduate medical education, including the potential for expansion of graduate entry medical degrees. A joint implementation group, chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, and the Chief Executive of HEFCE, Sir Howard Newby, has been established to lead this review.

National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure that National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence decisions are sufficiently resourced to ensure rapid uptake of recommendations.

Jane Kennedy: Provision is made within national health service allocations for the estimated impact on the NHS of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

NHS Consultants

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultant posts were vacant in the NHS in England on 31 March in each of the past five years; and what assessment she has made of (a) trends in levels of and (b) reasons for consultant vacancies.

Liam Byrne: Information on the number and rate of vacancies for consultants lasting three months or more in each of the last five years is shown in the table.
	The recent fall in vacancy rates consolidates last year's downward trend and comes at the same time as a considerable increase in consultants. There are 9,389, or 44 per cent. more consultants employed in the national health service than there were in 1997. Overall, the picture is one of growth and reducing vacancies.
	
		Three month vacancy rate and number for all consultants in England as at 31 March 2000–05
		
			  Three month vacancy rate percentage Three month vacancy number Staff in post (full-time equivalent) Staff in post (headcount) 
		
		
			 2005 3.3 973 28,822 31,210 
			 2004 4.4 1,255 27,564 30,176 
			 2003 4.7 1,264 25,434 27,775 
			 2002 3.8 946 23,713 25,816 
			 2001 3.0 672 21,626 23,716 
			 2000 2.8 596 20,830 22,627 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Three month vacancies are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (full-time equivalents).
	2. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post.
	3. Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number.
	4. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
	5. * where the sum of the staff in post and number of vacancies is less then 10.
	6. — where the sum of the staff in post and number of vacancies is zero.
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental vacancy survey.

Nurses

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many registered national health service nurses there are in each London borough;
	(2)  how many registered national health service midwives there are in each London borough;
	(3)  how many registered national health service psychiatric nurses there are in each London borough.

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is collected as total qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in London government office region (GOR) by strategic health authority (SHA). The table shows the latest figures available as at 30 September 2004.
	
		National health service hospital and community health services: total qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in London GOR by SHA area as at 30 September 2004 Headcount
		
			  Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff Of which: MidwivesPsychiatry 
		
		
			 London GOR Total 65,333 3,950 10,266 
			 North Central London SHA 13,115 689 1,681 
			 North East London SHA 12,067 927 1,787 
			 North West London SHA 15,774 844 2,756 
			 South East London SHA 14,136 861 3,216 
			 South West London SHA 10,241 629 826 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census 2004.

Nurses

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses are employed in the Essex Health Authority area on (a) permanent and (b) temporary contracts.

Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of nurses in the Essex Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area is not available in the format requested. However, the table shows the number of qualified nurses in the Essex SHA area and the number of bank nurses.
	
		National health service hospital and community health services: total qualified nurses in the Essex SHA area by organisation by nature of contract as at 30 September 2004 headcount
		
			   Total qualified nurses of which Bank nurses 
		
		
			 Essex SHA total  8,926 954 
			 
			 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals  NHS Foundation Trust RDD 1,138 258 
			 Basildon PCT 5GR 122 0 
			 Billericay, Brentwood and Wickford PCT 5GP 118 0 
			 Castle Point and Rochford PCT 5JP 152 6 
			 Chelmsford PCT 5JN 108 0 
			 Colchester PCT 5GM 293 8 
			 Epping Forest PCT 5AJ 140 6 
			 Essex Ambulance Service NHS Trust RB4 1 0 
			 Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust RDE 1,092 0 
			 Essex SHA Q03 10 0 
			 Harlow PCT 5DC 115 11 
			 Maldon and South Chelmsford PCT 5GL 142 0 
			 Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust RQ8 1,454 295 
			 North Essex Mental Health Partnership  NHS Trust RRD 746 64 
			 Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust RQW 739 46 
			 South Essex Partnership NHS Trust RWN 641 149 
			 Southend Hospital NHS Trust RAJ 1,119 49 
			 Southend on Sea PCT 5AK 193 19 
			 Tendring PCT 5AH 196 20 
			 Thurrock PCT 5GQ 145 0 
			 Uttlesford PCT 5GN 83 4 
			 Witham Braintree and Halstead Care Trust TAG 179 19 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census 2004

Nurses

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent nursing vacancies there are in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority.

Rosie Winterton: The number of nursing vacancies in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority area are shown in the following table. All vacancy rates are calculated on full-time equivalent vacancy numbers.
	
		Health and social care information centre vacancies survey March 2005. National health service three month vacancies in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority area by organisation for qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff. Three month vacancy rates, numbers and staff in post.
		
			   March 2005 September 2004 
			   Three month vacancy rate (percentage) Three month vacancy number (Staff in post) full-time equivalent (Staff in post) headcount 
		
		
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority  area total Q02 5.0 368 7,064 9,955 
			 Bedford hospitals NHS trust RC1 1 .5 11 702 1,156 
			 Bedford PCT 5GD 0.0 0 156 203 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire ambulance and paramedic  service NHS trust RFU (71)— 0 0 0 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA Q02 (71)— 0 0 0 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton community NHS trust RV7 13.3 75 488 591 
			 Bedfordshire Heartlands PCT 5GE 3.0 6 202 269 
			 Dacorum PCT 5GW 2.8 3 113 168 
			 East and North Hertfordshire NHS trust RWH 4.0 58 1,410 2,557 
			 Hertfordshire Partnership NHS trust RWR 7.7 70 834 974 
			 Hertsmere PCT 5CP 0.0 0 94 119 
			 Luton and Dunstable hospital NHS trust RC9 0.1 1 819 1,021 
			 Luton PCT 5GC 9.3 19 182 238 
			 North Hertfordshire and Stevenage PCT 5GH 1 3 3 201 274 
			 Royston, Buntingford and Bishop's Stortford PCT 5GK 1.0 1 95 118 
			 South East Hertfordshire PCT 5GJ 1 9 3 132 204 
			 St. Albans and Harpenden PCT 5GX 0.3 0 124 163 
			 Watford and Three Rivers PCT 5GV 7.3 9 116 145 
			 Welwyn Hatfield PCT 5GG 7.3 6 76 108 
			 West Hertfordshire hospitals NHS trust RWG 7.3 103 1,321 1,647 
		
	
	(71) = zero.
	Notes:
	Three month vacancy:
	1. Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2005.
	2. Three month vacancies are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (full-time equivalents).
	3. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post.
	4. Three month vacancy rates are calculated using staff in post from the non-medical workforce census September 2004.
	5. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
	Staff in post:
	6. Staff in post data is from the non-medical workforce census September 2004.
	General:
	7. Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number.
	8. Calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.
	9. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts.
	10. Strategic health authority figures are based on trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of healthcare.
	Sources:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre Vacancies Survey March 2005
	Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2004

Out-of-hours Care (Essex)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost was to the Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust of providing out-of-hours care to patients in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust (PCT) was established on 1 April 2002. Therefore, data can be provided only for two years. Data for 2004–05 are not yet available.
	The total cost of providing out-of-hours care to patients was £189,000 in 2002–03 and £247,000 in 2003–04 1 .
	We expect PCTs to fund out-of-hours services through their general funding allocations. In 2005–06, Castle Point and Rochford PCT received £157 million. In 2006–07, it will receive £188 million.
	1 Source:
	Castle Point and Rochford PCT financial returns, 2002–03 and 2003–04.

Pregnancy Termination

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses suffering (i) stress and (ii) other mental health problems as a result of their taking part in termination of pregnancy operations in each year since 1975; and what estimate she has made of the related cost to the national health service.

Caroline Flint: The Government do not hold information centrally on the reasons for sickness absence by doctors and nurses.
	Section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, states that, except where treatment is necessary to save the life of, or prevent grave permanent injury to the pregnant woman, "no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection".

Pressure Sores

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether targets for pressure sore reduction were met in the last financial year.

Liam Byrne: There are no targets for the reduction of pressure sores. Reducing the incidence of pressure sores in hospitals is tackled locally through clinical governance; a programme of continuous improvement in clinical care. The toolkit, "Essence of Care—patient focused benchmarks for clinical governance", includes a chapter specific to pressure ulcers.
	This is underpinned by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines that also focus on screening and assessment, informing patients and their carers, the development and implementation of an individualised plan for prevention and treatment to be agreed and delivered by a multidisciplinary team working with patients and their carers.

Private Treatment

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have paid privately for some portion of their diagnosis or treatment since 2000.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not centrally available.

Registered Nursing Care Contributions

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients received registered nursing care contributions in each year since the payment was introduced, broken down by area.

Liam Byrne: In October 2001, the Government delivered on time the commitment given in the NHS Plan to introduce national health service-funded nursing care, for those self funding their care, in a care home providing nursing care who had previously paid for the care they needed from a registered nurse. From April 2003, all residents of care homes providing nursing care, including those placed by local authorities, have received NHS funding of their nursing care, rather than that element of their care being provided by the local council and subject to a means test.
	The numbers of people receiving free NHS nursing care are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Strategic health authority 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 3,694 6,894 6,421 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 783 3,864 1,474 
			 Birmingham and the Black Country 1,763 4,551 4,631 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 2,651 7,963 15,740 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley 2,739 3,804 3,286 
			 Coventry, Warwickshire,  Herefordshire and Worcestershire 1,824 3,567 3,795 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 2,276 3,807 3,343 
			 Essex 432 1,445 1,730 
			 Greater Manchester 2,875 6,065 6,032 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 2,286 4,046 4,085 
			 Kent and Medway 2,288 2,755 2,796 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and  Rutland 1,236 2,254 1,975 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 1,952 4,382 4,391 
			 North and East Yorkshire and  Northern Lincolnshire 3,012 4,688 5,413 
			 North Central London 606 1,484 1,936 
			 North East London 1,623 2,402 2,181 
			 North West London 733 2,131 1,967 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 1,293 3,796 3,418 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 1,498 3,778 4,443 
			 Somerset and Dorset 2,058 3,905 3,829 
			 South East London 1,361 3,006 4,129 
			 South West London 1,790 3,187 2,987 
			 South West Peninsula 1,914 4,405 4,368 
			 South Yorkshire 1,510 3,639 3,340 
			 Surrey and Sussex 6,157 9,183 9,389 
			 Thames Valley 2,343 4,095 4,818 
			 Trent 4,169 7,206 7,244 
			 West Yorkshire 1,885 6,716 6,412 
			 Total England 58,751 119,018 125,573 
		
	
	Note:
	The data shows a count of the number of people benefiting from NHS-funded nursing care at the end of each year for which data was collected.
	Source:
	Local delivery plan returns.

Solpaflex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when the drug Solpaflex became available on national health service prescription; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what information she has received on the number of persons prescribed the drug Solpaflex on national health service prescription; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Solpaflex, in both tablet and gel forms, was first licensed for use in the United Kingdom in 1996, when it was first dispensed on prescription in the community, in England. The licence for the gel form expired in 2001, when the product ceased to be prescribed. The tablet form is still licensed and can be prescribed.
	The Department does not hold data on the number of people who receive a particular drug. However, since 1996, Prescription Pricing Authority data shows small numbers of prescriptions for Solpaflex, in both forms, in any one year, have never exceeded 400.

Suffolk West Primary Care Trust

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by Suffolk West Primary Care Trust on salaries and wages for (a) general and senior managers, (b) nurses and midwives and (c) administrative and cleric staff in each of the last five financial years.

Rosie Winterton: The table shows the information requested for the period 2002–03 to 2003–04. This is the earliest available data.
	
		Expenditure on salaries and wages by Suffolk West Primary Care Trust (PCT) v£
		
			 Staff 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Senior managers and managers 801,407 1,199,884 
			 Nursing, midwifery and health  visiting staff 4,417,034 4,596,315 
			 Administrative and clerical 1,119,723 1,293,662 
		
	
	Source:
	Annual financial returns of Suffolk West PCT.

Sustainable Development

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements her Department has in place to publish reports on their key sustainable development impacts.

Caroline Flint: The Government's sustainable development strategy, "Securing the Future", requires all Government Departments to produce an action plan by December 2005. The Department is in the process of forming its action plan. The action plan itself is likely to clarify the future mechanisms for publishing progress against key actions and there is ongoing discussion about this.
	The Department does not currently publish a separate report on sustainable development, but it does publish a section on sustainable development in its annual report both in terms of its operations and its policy.
	The Department also completes the annual sustainable development in a Government questionnaire, the results of which are published by the Sustainable Development Commission.
	In addition to this, the Department publishes a statement on its website on sustainable development. This statement is kept up to date by named personnel and regularly reviewed.

Sustainable Development

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to assist the delivery of sustainable development within Government and what progress has been made on her Department's Sustainable Development Strategy.

Caroline Flint: The Department is committed to the sustainability of its estate and operations, and isworking to meet the targets set out in the framework for sustainable development on the Government Estate. The Department's performance is monitored and reported on in the "Sustainable Development in Government" report.
	Departmental officials take part in the discussions on the framework, which is currently under review, as part of the work of the Sustainable Operations Board (SOB) and the SOB working group.
	The Department's operational environmental strategy for monitoring and reporting on the use of energy and resources within its buildings, available since 1 January 2002, is now under review. It aims to enable the Department to contribute to a better environment and through this, improve people's health.
	As part of our commitment to meeting targets, the Department is implementing an environmental management system (EMS) and training on this. Initiatives include saving energy and water and reducing the impacts of waste and travel. This will be relevant to staff in all buildings.
	The Department has been purchasing at least 50 per cent. of its electricity from renewable sources since 2000–01, meaning that by 2003–04, overall carbon emissions had been reduced—from gas and electricity—by 15 per cent. compared with 1999–2000. The Department is in the process of rationalising its estate, and this will provide further opportunities to reduce overall consumption levels. In addition to this, the Department encourages use of video and tele-conferences, and staff to work from home where appropriate, eliminating up to 1,200 journeys a month.
	The Department is in the process of forming its action plan. The plan will aim to clarify those areas already in progress in the Department, new areas for action; how both staff and stakeholders will become engaged; the mechanism for reporting of progress against targets. The plan will be ready for ministerial approval by December 2005.

Waiting Times

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for those referred for treatment by GPs in (a) each London primary care trust and (b) each London health authority was in each year since 1997.

Jane Kennedy: This information is not available in the format requested because there were changes to national health service organisations from 1997 to date and therefore data are not comparable.
	However, the table shows figures prior to 2002 by health authority (HA) and from 2002 by primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA).
	
		Estimated average waiting time for first out-patient appointment following general practitioner written referral, June 1997 to June 2001—health authorities within North Thames and South Thames regional office areas (responsible population based) Median waiting time (weeks)
		
			   Quarter ended 
			 Code Name June 1997 June 1998 June 1999 June 2000 June 2001 
		
		
			 QA2 Hillingdon HA 6.7 7.4 8.3 9.1 7.6 
			 QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster HA 5.8 3.9 8.0 6.9 6.6 
			 QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA 6.8 7.7 8.6 8.8 n/a 
			 QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA 7.3 7.4 8.7 8.8 8.3 
			 QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA 5.6 7.3 6.9 7.3 n/a 
			 QAC Bromley HA 8.0 8.2 8.7 6.6 n/a 
			 QAD Croydon HA 5.0 6.0 6.7 7.1 6.0 
			 QAG Kingston and Richmond HA 5.4 4.6 5.4 5.9 5.6 
			 QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA 7.1 8.2 7.9 7.0 7.2 
			 QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA 5.3 3.6 7.0 6.7 6.4 
			 QAP Barking and Havering HA 8.0 8.2 8.7 8.0 8.4 
			 QAQ Barnet HA 5.6 6.6 7.1 7.7 n/a 
			 QAR Brent and Harrow HA 6.8 5.8 7.2 6.9 6.9 
			 QAT Camden and Islington HA 5.8 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.2 
			 QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA 5.6 6.4 6.7 6.4 6.3 
			 QAW East London and City HA 7.5 8.9 8.5 8.1 7.6 
			 QEW Barnet, Enfield and Haringey n/a n/a n/a n/a 8.0 
			 QEY Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich n/a n/a n/a n/a 7.3 
		
	
	n/a—not applicable.
	Note:
	Health authority reorganisation 2001–02:
	Barnet HA and Enfield and Haringey HA merged to form Barnet, Enfield and Haringey HA.
	Bexley and Greenwich HA and Bromley HA merged to form Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich HA.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QM08R.
	
		Estimated average waiting time for first out-patient appointment following GP written referral, June 2002 to June 2005—PCTs within SHAs in London (responsible population based) Median waiting time (weeks)
		
			   Quarter ended 
			 Code Name June 2002 June 2003 June 2004 June 2005 
		
		
			 5AT Hillingdon PCT 7.8 7.6 7.3 7.0 
			 5H1 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 6.3 6.4 6.2 7.2 
			 5HX Ealing PCT 7.3 5.7 8.3 8.0 
			 SHY Hounslow PCT 6.6 6.9 7.1 6.7 
			 5K5 Brent PCT 6.5 7.5 8.0 8.5 
			 5K6 Harrow PCT 7.9 7.9 9.1 8.5 
			 5LA Kensington and Chelsea PCT 6.3 6.8 6.6 7.2 
			 5LC Westminster PCT 7.1 7.6 7.0 7.5 
			  North West London SHA 7.0 7.1 7.5 7.6 
			 5A9 Barnet PCT 8.3 7.9 7.7 7.6 
			 5C1 Enfield PCT 10.5 8.3 8.0 7.9 
			 5C9 Haringey PCT 7.5 6.7 6.5 7.1 
			 5K7 Camden PCT 8.2 7.1 7.2 9.4 
			 5K8 Islington PCT 6.0 6.1 6.3 10.7 
			  North Central London SHA 8.2 7.3 7.2 8.2 
			 5A4 Havering PCT 8.4 8.8 8.1 6.9 
			 5C2 Barking and Dagenham PCT 9.1 8.7 8.6 7.3 
			 5C3 City and Hackney PCT 7.5 6.5 5.8 5.7 
			 5C4 Tower Hamlets PCT 7.7 7.6 7.7 7.4 
			 5C5 Newham PCT 7.5 6.9 7.0 8.3 
			 5C6 Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone PCT 8.8 n/a n/a n/a 
			 5C7 Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford PCT 8.2 n/a n/a n/a 
			 5C8 Redbridge PCT 9.5 n/a n/a n/a 
			 5NA Redbridge PCT n/a 9.4 7.3 7.2 
			 5NC Waltham Forest PCT n/a 8.6 8.1 7.9 
			  North East London SHA 8.2 7.9 7.4 7.2 
			 5A7 Bromley PCT 6.6 5.9 6.1 6.1 
			 5A8 Greenwich PCT 8.7 7.6 7.2 6.7 
			 5LD Lambeth PCT 8.3 8.0 7.5 7.1 
			 5LE Southwark PCT 8.4 7.9 7.7 7.1 
			 5LF Lewisham PCT 8.1 8.4 7.7 8.4 
			 5AX Bexley PCT 8.1 7.3 n/a n/a 
			 TAK Bexley Care Trust n/a n/a 7.0 6.6 
			  South East London SHA 7.9 7.4 7.2 7.9 
			 5A5 Kingston PCT 6.7 7.0 6.8 6.7 
			 5K9 Croydon PCT 6.8 5.8 7.7 6.6 
			 5LG Wandsworth PCT 6.6 7.0 6.2 6.4 
			 5M6 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.1 
			 5M7 Sutton and Merton PCT 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.7 
			  South West London SHA 6.6 6.6 6.8 6.5 
		
	
	n/a—not applicable.
	Notes:
	1. Strategic health authorities in London:
	North West London, North Central London, North East London, South East London, South West London.
	2. Primary Care Trust re-organisation 2003–04:
	Redbridge PCT (5C8) and Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford PCT (part) merged to form Redbridge PCT (5NA).
	Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone PCT and Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford PCT (part) merged to form Waltham Forest PCT.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QM08R.

Ward Temperatures

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines her Department has issued to hospitals regarding the maximum temperature allowed on wards for the welfare of staff and the comfort of patients.

Jane Kennedy: General guidance on the design and control of environmental temperatures in ward areas are contained in the Department's health building note 04, "Inpatient Accommodation Options for Choice", and health technical memorandum 2025, "Ventilation in Healthcare Premises Design Considerations". No maximum temperature is identified except where related to summertime temperatures when measures should be considered to maintain internal temperature to a value not exceeding three degrees Celsius above external shade temperature.

Affordable Housing

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was allocated for the provision of affordable housing in each of the Northern Ireland constituencies in each of the last five years.

David Hanson: I have taken affordable housing to mean social housing for rent and low cost private sector housing the purchasers of which receive assistance through the Northern Ireland Co-ownership scheme. The following table shows the total cost of social dwellings for rent started in each year:
	
		Social housing costs by constituency £000
		
			 Constituency 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 East Antrim 0 724 2,084 2,603 2,699 
			 North Antrim 3,070 368 998 1,948 1,224 
			 South Antrim 1,423 569 574 1,107 1,442 
			 Upper Bann 345 0 1,022 2,516 1,637 
			 East Belfast 5,741 4,780 4,255 8,044 3,945 
			 North Belfast 8,078 16,045 19,152 31,567 27,487 
			 South Belfast 3,440 12,375 3,421 5,987 3,890 
			 West Belfast 8,646 11,632 10,742 35,281 37,686 
			 North Down 0 3,305 1,986 6,318 2,932 
			 South Down 743 4,779 568 2,915 2,067 
			 Fermanagh and  South Tyrone 3,600 562 2,414 3,125 4,171 
			 Foyle 20,970 5,655 3,123 6,340 11,082 
			 Lagan Valley 6,091 639 9,507 10,524 14,341 
			 East Londonderry 2,852 481 3,451 6,160 117 
			 Mid Ulster 179 623 919 216 244 
			 Newry and Armagh 960 1,570 2,403 2,828 6,972 
			 Strangford 0 1,377 0 208 1,523 
			 West Tyrone 747 6,922 597 3,836 2,475 
			 Totals 66,885 72,406 67,216 131,523 125,934 
		
	
	Funding for the Northern Ireland Co-ownership scheme, under which participants part purchase, part rent homes is allocated on a demand led, first come first served basis, and not by constituency. Information is not held in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Expenditure by the Co-ownership Housing Association is made up of housing association grant provided by the Department supplemented by surpluses generated by the association itself. The allocation of funding for the co-ownership scheme for each of the past five years were as follows:
	
		Funding for co-ownership scheme £ million
		
			  DSD NICHA Total 
		
		
			 2000–01 5.8 6.6 12.4 
			 2001–02 10.2 9.8 20.0 
			 2002–03 12.9 12.2 25.1 
			 2003–04 7.9 7.7 15.6 
			 2004–05 12.6 6.2 18.8 
		
	
	Existing Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Housing Association properties are available for sale with discount to sitting tenants. These sales are demand led and add to the availability of affordable homes for purchase.

Computer Crime

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of computer (a) hacking, (b) fraud and (c) theft his Department recorded in each year since 2001–02; and for each year, on how many occasions computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers (i) within and (ii) outside his Department.

Angela Smith: The following number of cases have been recorded in the 11 Departments of the Northern Ireland administration and their agencies and the Northern Ireland Office for the three years ending 31 March 2004:
	
		
			  Number of cases 
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 (a) Computer hacking 5 3 12 
			 (b) Computer fraud 0 0 0 
			 (c) Computer theft 9 4 4 
			 (i) Illegal accesses by computer  hackers within his Department 4 3 11 
			 (ii) Illegal accesses by computer  hackers outside his Department 1 0 1 
		
	
	Figures for 2004–05 are currently being finalised and details will be provided as soon as they are available.

Councils (Employees/Assets)

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) estimated cost and (b) insurance value of the assets held by each district council in Northern Ireland are.

Angela Smith: The estimated cost or insurance value of individual district councils' assets are not held by the Department of the Environment. However, councils' assets are professionally valued every five years and the most up-to-date figures available, which have been extracted from councils' 2003–04 accounts, are reflected in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			 District council Total fixed assets at 31 March 2005 
		
		
			 Antrim 21,739,440 
			 Ards 36,684,156 
			 Armagh 42,480,657 
			 Ballymena 47,392,975 
			 Ballymoney 16,501,063 
			 Banbridge 26,339,822 
			 Belfast 333,154,418 
			 Carrickfergus 32,927,464 
			 Castlereagh 37,893,870 
			 Coleraine 65,910,444 
			 Cookstown 19,895,515 
			 Craigavon 43,961,402 
			 Derry 79,327,657 
			 Down 24,112,223 
			 Dungannon and South Tyrone 21,177,496 
			 Fermanagh 34,182,741 
			 Larne 31,379,779 
			 Limavady 20,395,245 
			 Lisburn 71,322,613 
			 Magherafelt 19,248,457 
			 Moyle 22,001,161 
			 Newry & Mourne 52,595,245 
			 Newtownabbey 100,688,863 
			 North Down 70,761,938 
			 Omagh 27,322,234 
			 Strabane 9,669,175 
			 Total 1,309,066,053

Departmental Land

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what land his Department (a) is offering for sale, lease-back or similar disposal and (b) plans to offer in the next 12 months; and what the (i) location, (ii) size and (iii) best estimate of value is in each case.

Angela Smith: It is not possible to provide the information requested in respect of the next 12 calendar months. However, as departmental property strategies are closely aligned with overall financial planning, details of the land proposed for disposal by the Northern Ireland Office, the eleven Departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and their agencies during the current financial year are given in the following table:
	
		
			 Address Size Value (£) 
		
		
			 Randalstown Road (plot A Castle Road), Antrim 4.35 Acres n/k 
			 
			 23 Steeple Road, Antrim 0.26 Acres 44,000 
			 
			 77 Riverside, Pigeon Hill, Antrim 2.76 Acres 825,000 
			 
			 Birchill Road/Ballygore Road, Antrim—plots 15 and 16 27.49 Acres 2,530,000 
			 
			 Nursery Park, Antrim 0.62 Acres 137,500 
			 
			 Land at Caulside—58A New Lodge Road, Antrim 1.13 Acres 5,500 
			 
			 Culnafeigh Green, Antrim 0.04 Acres 22,000 
			 
			 Land adjacent to St. Judes, 4 Ballycraigy Road, Muckamore 0.03 Acres 1,000 
			 
			 Plot B Castle Road, Antrim—Cyc le Lane to Roads Service 2.02 Acres 5,150 
			 
			 Riverside Walkway, Antrim 40.82 Acres (74)1 
			 
			 The Steeple, Antrim 0.039 Acres 1,000 
			 
			 Land at junction of Belfast Road/Fountain Hill, Antrim 1.14 Acres (74)1 
			 
			 Bridge Street, Ballymena House — 60,000 
			 
			 Land at Tullygarley—Dunluce Park, Ballymena 4.9 Acres 50,000 
			 
			 18 Antrim Road, Ballymena 0.16 Acres 8,000 
			 
			 Land at Ballee Road West, Ballymena 0.83 Acres 50,000 
			 
			 Larne Road, Ballymena 0.56 Acres (74)1 
			 
			 Woodside Road, Ballymena 1.371 Acres 80,000 
			 
			 Laneway at Old Antrim Road, Ballymena 0.68 Acres 20,000 
			 
			 Charlestown Road/New Charlestown Road, Portadown 30 Acres 1,800,000 
			 
			 Lands adjacent to Drumgor Park, Craigavon 1.072 Acres n/k 
			 
			 Portadown Road, 1 Ballynamoney Lane, Lurgan 13.76 Acres 4,000,000 
			 Lands at Ballinacor, Portadown 4.98 Acres 40,000 
			 
			 Encroachment of lands at Upper Ramone/Bocombra, Portadown (540 sq m) 0.133 Acres (74)1 
			 
			 Cycleway at Pinebank, Craigavon 0.320 Acres 900 
			 
			 Lands adjacent. to 70 Silverwood Road, Lurgan 9.67 Acres 300,000 
			 
			 Lands at Eastway, Craigavon 13.5 Acres 450,000 
			 
			 Lands adjacent to 81 Kernan Gardens, Portadown 0.066 Acres 1,000 
			 
			 Land at Franklyn Park, Lurgan 3. 32 Acres 175,000 
			 
			 Encroachment of land adjacent to Franklyn Park, Lurgan (53 sq m) 0.013 Acres (74)1 
			 
			 Lands adjacent to Seagoe Cemetery, Seagoe Road, Portadown 0.462 Acres n/k 
			 
			 Lands at Drumgask, Craigavon 6.8 Acres 15,000 
			 
			 Craigavon Balancing Lakes—none available — — (74)— 
			 
			 B2 Silverwood Junction, Lurgan 0.810 Acres (74)— 
			 
			 Plot 4, Rodgers Quay, Carrickfergus — — 70,000 
			 
			 Lonsdale Road, Armagh — — (74)— 
			 
			 Car Park, Coleraine — — 2,500,000 
			 
			 Linenhall Street, Ballymoney 0.13 Hectares n/k 
			 
			 Land at rear of 17a Market Street, Lurgan — — n/k 
			 
			 Slater's Cross, Belleek — — (74)— 
			 
			 Car Park at Cliff Road, Belleek — — 60,000 
			 
			 Upper North Street, Carrickfergus — — 25,000 
			 
			 Former Railway Track, Coalisland
			 Site A 4.39 Acres 16,000 
			 Site C 2.53 Acres n/k 
			 
			 Union Place, Dungannon
			 Site 3 0.0034 Hectares 250 
			 Site 5 0.0038 Hectares 250 
			 Site 8 0.0475 Hectares 1,000 
			 Sites 9 and 10 0.0306 Hectares 700 
			 
			 11 Market Square, Dungannon 0.0026 Hectares 250 
			 
			 Eden Street, Enniskillen 0.007 Hectares 80,000 
			 
			 Land adjacent to Durham Street/Durham Court, Belfast 0.067 Hectares 70,000 
			 
			 124–138 Peters Hill, Belfast 0.060 Hectares 99,750 
			 
			 357–361 Donegall Road, Belfast 0.03 Hectares 168,000 
			 
			 339–343 Donegall Road, Belfast 0.22 Hectares 625,000 
			 
			 183–191 Beersbridge Road, Belfast 0.020 Hectares 152,250 
			 
			 211–217 Beersbridge Road, Belfast 0.020 Hectares 78,750 
			 
			 155–157 Newtownards/Ards Road, Tower Street, Belfast 0.0984 Hectares 36,750 
			 
			 68–72 Newtownards Road, Belfast 0.19 Hectares 420,000 
			 
			 2A Adam Street, Belfast 0.02205 Hectares 76,125 
			 
			 118–120 Antrim Road, Belfast 0.040 Hectares 199,500 
			 127 Ballygomartin Road, Belfast 0.0694 Hectares 31,500 
			 
			 181 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast 0.0107 Hectares 8,400 
			 
			 126–130 Sandy Row and 39–49 Albion Street, Belfast 0.355 Hectares 767,500 
			 
			 Land at Lenamore, Londonderry 0.369 Hectares 275,000 
			 
			 Former Donard Special Care School, Banbridge 1.0 Acre 250,000 
			 
			 Lands at Muckamore Abbey Hospital 33 Acres 240,000 
			 
			 5 Annadale Avenue, Belfast 0.32 Acres 600,000 
			 
			 216 Belmont Road, Belfast 0.48 Acres 800,000 
			 
			 Former Glenside Special Care School, Strabane 0.49 Acres 250,000 
			 
			 Lands at Antrim Hospital, Antrim 3.16 Acres 1,100,000 
			 
			 Lands at Riverview Road, Omagh 11. 20 Acres 25,000 
			 
			 Lands at Drumakilly Road, Omagh 4.75 Acres 3,300,000 
			 
			 Desertcreat Farm, Cookstown 105 Hectares 2,000,000 
			 
			 53 Mandeville Avenue, Lisburn 0.200 Hectares 70,000 
			 
			 Tandragee Gate Lodge 0.225 Hectares 90,000 
			 
			 White Water Cottage 0.053 Hectares 6,000 
			 
			 20 Mullyburtian Road, Lisnaskea 0.133 Hectares 60,000 
			 
			 22 Mullyburtian Road, Lisnaskea 0.08 Hectares 65,000 
			 
			 86 Alderwood Road, Mullaghfad 0.06 Hectares 40,000 
			 
			 Craigmore Cam. County Londonderry 0.01 Hectares 200 
			 
			 Slievagh, Portglenone 0.140 Hectares 530 
			 
			 Gortatole, Marlbank, County Fermanagh 110 Hectares 350 
			 
			 Cloghmore, Spring Grove, County Fermanagh 0.37 Hectares 3,500 
			 
			 Shanmullagh, Riversdale, County Fermanagh 0.024 Hectares 4,000 
			 
			 Knockmult, Springwell, County Londonderry 0.242 Hectares 3,500 
			 
			 Drumawillin, Ballycastle 2.30 Hectares 6,000 
			 
			 Tullyhogue Fort, Cookstown 20.5 Hectares 405,000 
			 
			 House at Glenwherry, Ballymena — Hectares 76,000 
			 
			 Land at Lough Melvin 0.15 Hectares 15,000 
			 
			 East Belfast (garden land) 0.013 Hectares 750 
			 
			 Far Railway Paddock, Hillsborough Estate 1.600 Hectares n/k 
		
	
	(74) Nominal.
	Notes:
	1. Where £1 nominal is quoted, the circumstances are typically that the ongoing management costs of or obligation of ownership extinguish any value.
	2. Some properties have yet to be valued and the entries for these are marked as n/k (not known).
	3. Estimates of value are necessarily provisional in nature. They will be subject to ongoing review so that any changes in circumstances, for instance to planning approvals, can be taken into account prior to disposal.
	4. Departments are obliged to keep their property holdings under continual review. Therefore, although the list of properties for disposal is accurate as regards current plans, it may be subject to future amendment.

Education (Appointments/Funding)

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding he allocated to each of the Education and Library Boards for (a) 2005–06 and (b) the three previous financial years; and what the projected or actual overspend or underspend is in each.

Angela Smith: The following table shows the funding (recurrent and capital) allocated to each of the Education and Library Boards by the three funding Departments, Department of Education (DE), Department of Culture Arts and Leisure (DCAL) and Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) in (a) 2005–06 and (b) in the three previous financial years, i.e. 2002–03 to 2004–05.
	
		2005–06 (initial allocation)(75) £ million
		
			  BELB NEELB SEELB SELB WELB Total 
		
		
			 Recurrent 210.3 269.3 244.7 278.1 233.8 1,236.2 
			 Capital 14.1 18.0 20.6 19.5 18.0 90.2 
			 Total 224.4 287.3 265.3 297.6 251.8 1,326.4 
		
	
	(75) In 2005–06 some £75 million recurrent (mainly earmarked) funding has still to be allocated, along with the Boards' share of the £12.5 million funding package announced on 20 June 2005. Arrangements for the distribution of this £12.5 million are currently under consideration.
	
		2002–03 to 2004–05 (final allocation) £ million
		
			  BELB NEELB SEELB SELB WELB Total 
		
		
			 2004–05   
			 Recurrent 208.2 261.2 235.3 274.5 284.8 1,264.0 
			 Capital 7.7 14.6 25.8 16.0 21.9 86.0 
			 Total 215.9 275.8 261.1 290.5 306.7 1,350.0 
			
			 2003–04   
			 Recurrent 211.4 265.4 232.9 271.5 258.4 1,239.6 
			 Capital 12.5 13.9 14.3 11.6 13.3 65.6 
			 Total 223.9 279.3 247.2 283.1 271.7 1,305.2 
			
			 2002–03   
			 Recurrent 202.3 246.2 222.5 252.6 234.6 1,158.2 
			 Capital 8.0 12.8 17.8 9.1 12.5 60.2 
			 Total 210.3 259.0 240.3 261.7 247.1 1,218.4 
		
	
	Cumulative sums unspent at 31 March 2005 are as follows. Figure are passed on provisional outturn in 2004–05:
	
		
			  £ million 
			  BELB NEELB SEELB SELB WELB 
		
		
			 Recurrent — 4.7 — 6.9 8.4 
			 Capital 3.4 0.5 1.1 2.4 0.5 
		
	
	Cumulative recurrent overspend at 31 March 2005 based on unaudited 2004–05 accounts is as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 BELB SEELB 
		
		
			 10.7 20.5

Education Expenditure

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent per head per child in the (a) primary and (b) secondary education sector in Northern Ireland in (i) 2004, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 1995.

Angela Smith: The information cannot be provided in the format requested as expenditure on schools by all Funding Authorities is recorded on a financial year basis as opposed to a calendar year basis. However, the following financial year information is available:
	
		
			   £ 
			  Primary per capita Post primary per capita 
		
		
			 1994–95 1,470 2,312 
			 1999–2000 1,989 2,866 
			 2003–04 2,664 3,731 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The information is based on Funding Authorities published Outturn Statements and comprises funding directly allocated to schools through formula funding arrangements and funding directly attributable to schools (e.g. funding spent on rates; teaching and non-teaching redundancies, etc). It does not include expenditure on central services provided by the Education and Library Boards on such areas as home to school transport, school meals and, curriculum advisory support services. Expenditure on those areas cannot be readily apportioned between the primary and post-primary Sectors.
	2. The figures for the primary sector include both the pupils numbers and costs of pupils in nursery classes as expenditure for these pupils cannot be separately identified.
	3. The figures for the post primary sector include both the pupils numbers and costs of pupils in preparatory departments as expenditure for these pupils cannot be separately identified.

Educational Psychologists

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many educational psychologists were employed in the (a) Southern and (b) South Eastern Education and Library Boards in (i) 2004 (ii) 2000 and (iii) 1995.

Angela Smith: The information is as follows:
	Southern Education and Library Board (SELB)
	The following are the number of Educational Psychologists employed by the SELB in the years indicated:
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent 
		
		
			 1995 Not available 
			 2000 22.75 
			 2004 29.31 
		
	
	South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB)
	The following are the number of Educational Psychologists employed by the SEELB in the years indicated:
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent 
		
		
			 1995 15.66 
			 2000 21 
			 2004 22.8

Farmers (Bankruptcies)

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many bankruptcies of farmers in Northern Ireland there were in each of the last 15 years; what percentage of the total number of farmers this represented in each year; and what the percentage change in bankruptcies was in each year.

Angela Smith: Bankruptcies of farmers in Northern Ireland from year ending 31 March 1996 to year ending 31 March 2005:
	
		
			 Number of bankruptcies in year ending 31 March Number of farm businesses(76) Number of bankruptcy orders made(77) Percentage of bankruptcies to farm businesses Percentage change in bankruptcies 
		
		
			 1996 32,630 22 0.07 n/a 
			 1997 32,118 10 0.03 -54.5 
			 1998 31,817 23 0.07 +130.0 
			 1999 31,132 23 0.07 No change 
			 2000 29,891 12 0.04 -47.8 
			 2001 29,818 22 0.07 +83.3 
			 2002 28,513 9 0.03 -59.0 
			 2003 28,281 10 0.03 +11.2 
			 2004 27,614 16 0.06 +60.0 
			 2005  Figure not available 18  —  +12.5 
		
	
	(76) The figures in column 2 were supplied by DARD and relate to the number of farm businesses in operation in Northern Ireland each year. The figure for 2005 is not yet available. The statistical definition of an operational farm used for this answer is as follows. "All active farm businesses having one hectare or more of farmed land, whether owned, leased or taken in conacre, and those with under one hectare having any cattle, sheep or pigs or with significant poultry or horticultural activity. Landowners who lease out or rent out in conacre all of their land are not included."
	(77) These figures are based on the Standard Industrial Classification of agriculture e.g. "arable and livestock farming, horticulture and all related services", and by definition therefore not all the people declared bankrupt under this classification could be regarded as farmers.

General Grant Funding

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding the Government have provided to each district council in Northern Ireland through the resources element of the general grant factor.

Angela Smith: The resources element of general grant allocated to district councils for 2005–2006 is set out in the following table.
	
		General grant—resources element £
		
			 District council 2005–06 
		
		
			 Antrim 0 
			 Ards 1,255,948 
			 Armagh 1,783,504 
			 Ballymena 0 
			 Ballymoney 1,052,084 
			 Banbridge 953,758 
			 Belfast 0 
			 Carrickfergus 264,650 
			 Castlereagh 0 
			 Coleraine 0 
			 Cookstown 972,907 
			 Craigavon 0 
			 Derry 1,276,683 
			 Down 1,683,189 
			 Dungannon and South Tyrone 930,916 
			 Fermanagh 1,437,935 
			 Larne 24,202 
			 Limavady 1,308,476 
			 Lisburn 0 
			 Magherafelt 1,466,528 
			 Moyle 585,645 
			 Newry and Mourne 2,043,239 
			 Newtownabbey 0 
			 North Down 0 
			 Omagh 1,407,084 
			 Strabane 2,050,252 
			 Total 20,497,000

Homelessness

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what changes the Government have made to the eligibility of homeless people for accommodation in Northern Ireland since 2000.

David Hanson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made the following orders:
	1. Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness) Order 2000 which provides that persons from abroad who are subject to immigration control are eligible for accommodation under the homelessness legislation if they have refugee status or certain other forms of leave to enter or remain in the UK.
	2. Article 137 of the Housing (NI) Order 2003 inserted a new Article 7A in the Housing (NI) Order 1988 which provides that a homeless person is not eligible for accommodation if:
	(a) he, or a member of his household, has been guilty of unacceptable behaviour serious enough to make him unsuitable to be a tenant of the Housing Executive and, in the circumstances at the time his application is considered, he is unsuitable to be a tenant of the Housing Executive by reason of that behaviour;
	(b) he is a person who is subject to immigration control and is ineligible for accommodation by virtue of section 119 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (i.e. he does not belong to a group specified in the Persons subject to Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness) Order 2000); or
	(c) he is any other person from abroad who is ineligible for accommodation by virtue of regulations made by the Secretary of State.
	3. Homelessness Regulations (NI) 2004 which provide that a homeless person is not eligible for accommodation if:
	(a) he is not habitually resident in the common travel area comprising the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (certain groups, e.g. persons treated as "workers" for the purposes of European legislation, are exempt from this provision); or
	(b) his right to reside in the common travel area is derived from certain European directives which apply to people whose right to reside in the UK is conditional on them being self-sufficient and not claiming social assistance.

Invest NI

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what staff costs have been occurred by Invest NI in each year since it was established.

Angela Smith: Staff costs incurred by Invest NI are as follows:
	
		
			£ 
			  Amounts paid to staff Employers contributions for superannuation and national insurance Total staff costs(81) 
		
		
			 2002–03 15,595,000 3,245,000 18,840,000 
			 2003–04 17,010,000 3,524,000 20,534,000 
			 2004–05 17,205,000 3,615,000 20,820,000 
		
	
	(81) These figures do not include the costs of locally engaged staff in overseas offices. (In 2004–05 these costs amounted to £423,000).

Library Book Borrowing

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many books were borrowed from each publicly funded library in Northern Ireland in 2004–05.

David Hanson: The information requested has been placed in the Library. Figures are included for the nine libraries which recently closed in the North Eastern Education and Library Board. This data excludes books issued from mobile libraries.

Loan Sharks

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to assist those who are victims of loan sharks, with particular reference to those whose cases have passed through the courts.

Angela Smith: The Consumer Credit Bill reflects a Government commitment to "tackle loan sharks". The Bill modernises the consumer credit market and makes it much easier for consumers to challenge unfair loan agreements. It will provide a new right to challenge unfair relationships arising out of the terms of loan agreements and the way in which the lender acts. Borrowers will also have the right to take disputes with their lenders to an Ombudsman Service without going through a lengthy and expensive court battle.

Mobile Phones/Laptops

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) mobile telephones and (b) laptops have been issued to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) officials in Northern Ireland Government Departments in each of the last eight years; what costs were incurred; and how many have been (A) lost and (B) stolen during that period.

Angela Smith: The information requested by the hon. Lady is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Pension Credit

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of pensioner households in Northern Ireland are in receipt of pension credit.

David Hanson: The number of pension credit households is open to interpretation. One is for households which equates to the number of residencies. The other takes account of the number of benefit families (i.e. single individual, couple).
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Households (residencies) claiming pension credit 86,404 
			 Households (benefit families) claiming pension credit 91,199 
		
	
	As no baseline figure for the number of pensioner households is available, the percentage of Northern Ireland pensioner households who are in receipt of pension credit is unavailable. However, the number of individuals in receipt of state retirement pension is 268,352. The data is taken from June 2005.

Water Service (Overpayment)

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action will be taken by the Water Service to recover the overpayment made to a contractor for laying a pipe.

Shaun Woodward: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Gentleman.
	Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 4 August 2005
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about what action will be taken by the Water Service to recover the overpayment made to a contractor for laying a pipe (16142). I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
	I am assuming that your question refers to the investigation of suspected fraud in Water Service raised in the Northern Ireland Audit Office Report "Departmental Responses to Recommendations in NIAO Reports" published on 19 July 2005. This publication included a progress report on the recovery of an overpayment from a Water Service contractor.
	Civil proceedings were initiated in 2003 and the matter is sub judice. However, I can assure you that Water Service continues to make every effort to progress the recovery of the monies overpaid.

Birth Numbers

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the percentage change in the number of births in each strategic health authority area in London has been over the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Pelling, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for the percentage change in the number of births in each Strategic Health Authority area in London over the last five years. (15595)
	The figures shown in the table below reflect the current boundaries for Strategic Health Authorities which came into force on 1 April 2002.
	
		Percentage change in the number of livebirths in London strategic health authority areas, 1999–2004
		
			 Area 1999 to 2000 2000 to 2001 2001 to 2002 2002 to 2003 2003 to 2004 1999 to 2004 
		
		
			 North West London SHA -0.8 -0.4 2.7 3.6 2.8 8.1 
			 North Central London SHA 1.5 -1.5 1.9 3.9 2.9 8.8 
			 North East London SHA -0.2 1.1 1.6 4.4 -0.2 6.8 
			 South East London SHA -0.7 -2.1 1.2 5.4 2.1 5.9 
			 South West London SHA -3.7 0.2 -1.0 5.7 3.0 4.0 
			 London -0.8 -0.5 1.4 4.6 2.0 6.8 
		
	
	Note:
	The percentage change from 1999 to 2004 is calculated as the difference in the numbers of births in 1999 and in 2004 as a proportion of all births in 1999.
	Source:
	ONS

Burmese Goods

Vera Baird: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer at which (a) ports, (b) airports and (c) other entry points imports of goods from Burma enter the UK; and by what means of transport.

Dawn Primarolo: The list of (a) ports, (b) airports and (c) other entry points through which imports of goods from Burma enter the UK, including their means of transport, are shown in the following table.
	
		Port of import for UK imports from Burma (country of dispatch) by mode of transport at the border: January 2004 to June 2005(87)
		
			 Port of import Mode of transport at the border 
		
		
			 (a) Belfast Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Felixstowe Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Grangemouth Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Immingham Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Kirkaldy Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Liverpool Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 London (inc. Tilbury) Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Medway Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Southampton Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Thamesport Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Tyne Sea vessel (not vehicle on ferry) 
			 Felixstowe Powered vehicle on sea-going vessel 
			 Ramsgate Powered vehicle on sea-going vessel 
			 Southampton Powered vehicle on sea-going vessel 
			   
			 (b) Belfast airport Air transport 
			 Birmingham airport Air transport 
			 Bristol airport Air transport 
			 East Midlands airport Air transport 
			 Glasgow airport Air transport 
			 London Heathrow Air transport 
			 Manchester airport Air transport 
			 Newcastle airport Air transport 
			 Southampton airport Air transport 
			   
			 (c) Postal packages Mail 
		
	
	(87) Figures for 2004–05 are provisional
	Source:
	Overseas Trade Statistics, HM Revenue and Customs

Carers

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) carers and (b) young carers of school age there are in (i) Suffolk and (ii) the parliamentary constituency of Bury St. Edmunds.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Ruffley, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) carers and (b) young carers of school age there are in (i) Suffolk and (ii) the Parliamentary Constituency of Bury St Edmunds (15126)
	Table 1 below shows the number of people in Suffolk and Bury St Edmunds who were providing unpaid care on Census day (29 April 2001). the data for the county of Suffolk has been taken from table KS08 in "Census 2001 Key Statistics for local authorities in England and Wales". The data for the Parliamentary Constituency of Bury St Edmunds has been taken from table KS08 in the "2001 Census Report for Parliamentary Constituencies". Both of these publications are available in the House of Commons Library.
	We have interpreted the phrase 'young carers of school age' to mean any person providing unpaid care who was aged between 11 and 16 on Census day (29 April 2001). These figures, shown in Table 2 below, were not readily available in published Census data and were therefore drawn directly from the 2001 census databases.
	
		Table 1—Number of people in Suffolk and Bury St. Edmunds providing unpaid care, Census day (29 April 2001)
		
			  Area  All people All people who provide unpaid care 
		
		
			 Suffolk 668,553 66,486 
			 Bury St. Edmunds 98,982 9,370 
		
	
	Sources:
	Table KS08 Census 2001 Key Statistics for local authorities in England and Wales and Table KS08 2001 Census Report for Parliamentary Constituencies
	
		Table 2—Number of people aged between 11 and 16 in Suffolk and Bury St. Edmunds providing unpaid care, Census day (29 April 2001)
		
			  Area All people aged 11–16 All people aged 11–16 who provide unpaid care 
		
		
			 Suffolk 50,663 1,100 
			 Bury St. Edmunds 7,160 150 
		
	
	Source:
	2001 Census data.

Correspondence

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many overpayments of tax credits in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date, have been (i) disputed and (ii) written off; and what the value of the overpayments (A) disputed and (B) written off was in each year.

Dawn Primarolo: For the number of requests received in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave him and the hon. Member for Member for Lanark and Hamilton, East (Mr. Hood) on 4 July 2005, Official Report, columns 100W and 107W. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) received around 23,000 requests to write off overpayments of tax credits on the grounds of Official Error in June 2005. Because of the volume of new requests received recently, and the fact that cases are taking longer to deal with than expected, HMRC has been unable to respond to claimants as quickly as it would like, and it is now unlikely that the backlog will be cleared by the end of the summer.
	As to overpayments written off, I refer to the reply I gave the hon. Gentleman on 6 July 2005, Official Report, column 437W. HMRC wrote off around 49,000 overpayments in June 2005 on the grounds of Official Error.
	Information on the value of disputed tax credits overpayments is not kept.
	For the amounts written off in each year, I refer to my answer's of 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 101W to the hon. Gentleman. HMRC wrote off around £55,734,000 in June 2005.

Crown Estate

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Crown Estate has raised from dredging works in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 Financial year Aggregate dredging Contract dredging Navigational dredging Capital dredging Total 
		
		
			 2004–05 13.4 0.06 0.09 0 13.55 
			 2003–04 12.9 0 0.60 0 13.50 
			 2002–03 13.3 0.20 0.06 0 13.56 
			 2001–02 12.6 0 0.60 0 13.20 
			 2000–01 13.7 0.10 0.04 0.075 13.92 
			 1999–2000 13.1 0.20 0.004 0.003 13.31 
			 1998–99 11.9 0.20 0 0.24 12.34 
			 1997–98 12.4 0.06 0.01 0 12.47 
			 1996–97 13.2 1.00 0.01 0.37 14.58 
			 1995–96 11.9 0.90 0.01 0 12.81 
		
	
	Notes:
	Aggregate—data relates to material used in the construction industry.
	Contract dredging—relates to specific extraction for a specific job.
	Navigational dredging—refers to material used that has been extracted from navigational works.
	Capital dredging—refers to specific projects which are carried out to improve or create access to port facilities, often for larger ships. Material can be used or dumped.

Departmental Websites

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what websites come under his Department's responsibility; and what the (a) cost and (b) number of visitors to those sites was in the last 12 months.

John Healey: The costs and traffic figures for each website operated by the Department for which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible, during the 2004–05 financial year, were as follows.
	
		
			 Site address Direct costs (£) Unique Visits 
		
		
			 www.hm-treasury.gov.uk 123,133 1,003,996 
			 www.euro.gov.uk 21,000 223,108 
			 www.isb.gov.uk 14,000 18,660 
			  
			 Sites costed within the www.euro.gov.uk figure: 
			 www.ges.gov.uk  35,340 
			 www.wga.gov.uk  13,085 
			 www.csren.gov.uk  6,282 
			 www.opg.gov.uk  7,049 
		
	
	The term unique visits, refers to the number of different visitors logged during this period. These figures do not include repeat visits nor do they differentiate between different users coming from behind a shared firewall. For example, all Inland Revenue users would appear in the statistics as one visitor so the actual number of visitors is significantly higher.

Energy Efficiency

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies came from renewable sources in each year from 1997.

John Healey: The data relating to HM Revenue and Customs (including the Valuation Office Agency) is as follows:
	
		Energy efficiency
		
			  Renewable energy (Kwh) Total consumption (Kwh)(92) Percentage renewable 
		
		
			 1997–98* — — — 
			 1998–99* — — — 
			 1999–2000* 4,157,440 83,148,800 5 
			 2000–01* 11,653,532 241,347,045 5 
			 2001–02* 9,779,830 22,373,409 4 
			 2002–03 2,561,584 248,957,119 9 
			 2003–04 23,856,782 278,376,339 9 
			 2004–05 112,442,500 417,879,906 27 
		
	
	Information for the Treasury relating to the period up to July 2004 was contained in the answers which the former Financial Secretary (Ruth Kelly) gave on 19 July 2004, Official Report, column 37W to the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb). All the electricity used by the Treasury since that date has been from renewable sources.
	For the agencies responsible to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the information is as follows:
	
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 Debt management office 0 
			   
			 National Savings and Investments (NS&I) (89)— 
			   
			 Office for National Statistics (ONS)  
			 1997–2001 (90)— 
			 2001–02 9.0 
			 2002–03 9.1 
			 2003–04 9.2 
			 2004–05 9.1 
			   
			 Royal Mint 0 
			   
			 OGCbuying.solutions  
			 Royal Liver Buildings, Liverpool  
			 2001–02 0 
			 2002–03 100 
			 2003–04 (91)— 
			 2004–06 100 
		
	
	(89) NS&I's operations are outsourced to Siemens Business Services (SBS). This includes responsibility for the supply of all fuel and utilities to the three buildings at NS&I's operational sites. NS&I have no direct influence over the purchase of electricity by SBS.
	(90) Nil.
	(91) 100 per cent. for six months, 60 per cent. for six months.

EU Budget

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's forecasts are for the (a) UK rebate and the (b) net UK contribution to the EU under (i) the original Commission proposal for the next budget period and (ii) the Luxembourg Presidency proposal for the next budget period.

Ivan Lewis: As the Prime Minister pointed out in his statement to the House on 20 June 2005, Official Report, columns 523–25, the Luxembourg Presidency proposal would have cost the UK €25 billion over the period of the next Financial Perspective. This estimate was calculated on the basis of European Commission figures. The Government's most recent forecast of the UK abatement and net contributions to the EC Budget, covering the period to 2007–08, is given in Table 3.2 (page 15) of the annual "European Community Finances" White Paper (Cm 6580) published on 23 June 2005. These forecasts are based on the current Financial Perspective, which runs to December 2006. For the period from January 2007, we simply up-rate the present arrangements to allow for inflation for public expenditure planning purposes. This in no way implies any assumption by the Government as to what the outcome of the ongoing Financial Perspective negotiations might be.

Floor Space

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total floor space area is of buildings owned and leased by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies.

John Healey: The available information is set out in the table.
	
		
			 Department/Agency Total m(93) 
		
		
			 HMRC and VOA (92)1,754,122 
			 DMO 1,700 
			 ONS 85,741 
			 Royal Mint 46,233 
			 OGC 13,625 
			 GAD 2,898 
			 HMT 31,200 
			 NS&I (93)113,125 
		
	
	(92) This figure is a total figure of space owned or leased by HMRC and VOA. At the commencement of April 2001, the Customs & Excise and Inland Revenue transferred a vast majority of their estate to the STEPS contractor, and have occupied the space since then under separate PFI arrangements.
	(93) This space is owned by NS&I and leased to Siemens Business Services in Blackpool, Durham and Glasgow.

Freedom of Information

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests have been answered by the Department; and in how many cases information was (a) wholly exempted, (b) partly exempted and (c) the requests were answered in full.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 September 2005, Official Report, column 2248W by the Minister of State for the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Home Owners

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many home owners there were in the UK in each year since 1979.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	The stock of owner-occupied dwellings is set out in the following table. The stock figures included vacant dwellings and second homes, which are estimated to be about 3 to 4 per cent. of the total stock.
	Since 1997 the number of homeowners has increased by 1 million. The Government have pledged to increase the number of homeowners by 2 million by 2010.
	
		Estimated number of owner-occupied dwellings, United Kingdom, 1979–2004
		
			  Number (thousand) 
		
		
			 1979 11,564 
			 1980 12,273 
			 1981 12,442 
			 1982 12,627 
			 1983 13,010 
			 1984 13,334 
			 1985 13,637 
			 1986 13,983 
			 1987 14,363 
			 1988 14,779 
			 1989 15,205 
			 1990 15,490 
			 1991 15,532 
			 1992 15,688 
			 1993 15,848 
			 1994 16,027 
			 1995 16,239 
			 1996 16,445 
			 1997 16,675 
			 1998 16,932 
			 1999 17,183 
			 2000 17,437 
			 2001 17,701 
			 2002 17,839 
			 2003 18,054 
			 2004 (94)18,306 
		
	
	(94) Provisional.
	Notes:
	1. Figures from 1979 to 1990 are as at 31 December each year.
	2. Figures from 1991 to 2004 are as at 31 March each year.
	Source:
	Census figures and estimates of gains and losses between censuses.

Income and Corporation Taxes Act

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the costs to business in the year 1 April 2004 to 30 March 2005 of the changes to schedule 28AA Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 introduced by the Finance Act 2004.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the financial implications of the changes for businesses in 2004–05 are set out in a Regulatory Impact Assessment "Reform of Corporation Tax—Reform of Rules on Transfer Pricing and Thin Capitalisation", published in March 2004. The changes included a new exemption from transfer pricing rules for most small and medium sized enterprises.

Landfill Tax

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has been generated from the landfill tax, from landfill sites within the county of Bedfordshire in each year since 1997.

John Healey: Information on revenue from landfill tax can be found in the HM Revenue and Customs "Landfill Tax Bulletin", which can be found on the HM Revenue and Customs website:
	http://www.uktradeinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?task=landfill
	HM Revenue and Customs does not have a breakdown of landfill tax by county.

MRSA

Edward Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many patient deaths MRSA was recorded as a contributing factor in Kingston hospital in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Edward Davey dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking in how many patient deaths MRSA was recorded as a contributing factor in Kingston Hospital in each of the last five years. (16681)
	Figures for individual hospitals are not produced routinely every year. The latest, for 2002, were given in answer to a question from Andrew Mackinlay MP in Hansard, 22 July 2004, Column 471W. There were fewer than five deaths in Kingston Hospital in 2002. Figures for further years could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	Special analyses of MRSA deaths are undertaken annually by ONS for England and Wales. These are published in Health Statistics Quarterly. The latest year for which such Figures are available is 2003. The number of deaths in NHS Hospitals where MRSA was a contributory factor in the last five years was 3,229 out of a total of 1,468,710 deaths in NHS Hospitals.

Myeloma

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people suffering from myeloma in London in each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Sarah Teather, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question concerning the number of people suffering from myeloma in London in each year since 1997. (15133)
	Figures on the number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer and are still alive at a particular point in time are not routinely available.
	The number of patients in London diagnosed with multiple myeloma in each year since 1997 are given in the table below. The most recent available figures are for the year 2002.
	
		Number of newly diagnosed cases of multiple myeloma(98) in London(99), 1997–2002
		
			  Number of cases 
		
		
			 1997 336 
			 1998 403 
			 1999 393 
			 2000 398 
			 2001 371 
			 2002 359 
		
	
	(98) From 1995 to 2002, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C90.
	(99) Government Office Region.
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

Non-oil Gross Value Added

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the estimates for each quarter since Q1 of 1997 of (a) actual non-oil gross value added, and (b) non-oil gross value added if it had grown according to trend, that underpin chart 3.1 of the Treasury publication Evidence on the UK Economic Cycle.

John Healey: The trend rate of growth assumed in chart 3.1 of the Treasury publication 'Evidence on the UK economic cycle' is 3.06 per cent. a year between the estimated on-trend points in 1997H1 and 2001Q3, as documented in table B2 of Budget 2005 (HC 372), and the assumed rate of 2¾ per cent. a year thereafter. The requested information, reproduced below, has since been superseded by revised ONS estimates of non-oil gross value added released on 30 June 2005 as shown in chart 4.1 of "Evidence on the UK economic cycle".
	
		
			   Actual non-oil GVA Trend non-oil GVA as assumed in chart 3.1 
		
		
			 1997Q1 187795 187866 
			 1997Q2 189000 189099 
			 1997Q3 190470 190509 
			 1997Q4 192771 191930 
			 1998Q1 194305 193362 
			 1998Q2 195608 194804 
			 1998Q3 197606 196257 
			 1998Q4 199228 197721 
			 1999Q1 199457 199196 
			 1999Q2 200604 200682 
			 1999Q3 202254 202200 
			 1999Q4 204540 203752 
			 2000Q1 207372 205315 
			 2000Q2 209154 206891 
			 2000Q3 211142 208478 
			 2000Q4 212050 210078 
			 2001Q1 213786 211690 
			 2001Q2 214332 213314 
			 2001Q3 214951 214951 
			 2001Q4 215950 216414 
			 2002Q1 216597 217887 
			 2002Q2 216736 219369 
			 2002Q3 219210 220862 
			 2002Q4 219625 222365 
			 2003Q1 220627 223878 
			 2003Q2 221699 225402 
			 2003Q3 223896 226936 
			 2003Q4 226384 228480 
			 2004Q1 227769 230035 
			 2004Q2 229929 231601 
			 2004Q3 231422 233177 
			 2004Q4 233176 234763

Petroleum Fuel Duty

John Spellar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many points of collection there are for petroleum fuel duty; and what percentage of the total collected in 2004–05 came from (a) the top 10 and (b) the top 20 oil companies.

John Healey: Hydrocarbon oils become liable to duty when they are imported or, if produced in the UK, when they are delivered for home use from a refinery. There are therefore no fixed points of collection for oils duty.
	The percentages of the total excise duty on petrol paid by the top 10 and 20 oil companies in the UK are given in the following table.
	
		Petroleum fuel duty Percentage
		
			  Top 10 oil companies Top 20 oil companies 
		
		
			 2004–05 97.6 99.3

PFI

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2005, Official Report, column 571W, on the Private Finance Initiative, what the total value of assets and liabilities is for each of the listed private finance initiatives and public private partnerships that are recorded on the Government balance sheet;
	(2)  what the accounting treatment is of assets and liabilities for each of the listed private finance initiatives and public private partnerships; and whether this treatment is compliant with (a) UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practices and (b) International Financial Reporting Standards;
	(3)  what proportion of assets and liabilities for each of the listed private finance initiatives and public private partnerships is recorded on the Government balance sheet.

John Healey: My earlier answer indicated that the Treasury's only PFI project is for its office building at 1 Horse Guards Road. Details of the project are on the Treasury website:
	http://www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/about/about_building/about_ goggs_goggs.cfm
	The accounting treatment and asset/liability values are disclosed in note 13 on pages 41 to 43 of the Treasury's 2004–05 resource accounts:
	http://www.hm.treasury.gov.uk/media/3A6/1E/resource_ accounts_2004–5.pdf
	The accounting treatment for this PFI project is compliant with UK GAAP. There is currently no International Financial Reporting Standard on PFI projects.

Population Statistics

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the population of (a) the parliamentary constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire and (b) Bedfordshire local education authority has been in each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Nadine Dorries dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the population of (a) the parliamentary constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire and (b) Bedfordshire Local Education Authority has been in each year since 1997. (16634)
	Mid-year population estimates are not available for Parliamentary Constituencies. I have therefore provided figures taken from the 2001 Census.
	The first table shows the number of people living in Mid-Bedfordshire constituency on Census day (29 April 2001). The figures have been extracted from Table KS01 on the CD supplement to the Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for Parliamentary Constituencies in England and Wales, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
	The second table shows the annual population estimates for Bedfordshire from 1997 to 2004 (the latest year for which data are available). Bedfordshire Local Education Area (LEA) is the current county of Bedfordshire (i.e. it does not include the Unitary Authority of Luton).
	
		Mid-Bedfordshire parliamentary constituency All People
		
			 Area  
		
		
			 Mid-Bedfordshire 92,855 
		
	
	Source:
	2001 Census Report for parliamentary constituencies
	
		Bedfordshire county 
		
			 All People thousands 
		
		
			 1997 366.5 
			 1998 368.9 
			 1999 374.4 
			 2000 378.2 
			 2001 382.1 
			 2002 384.6 
			 2003 388.6 
			 2004 392.2 
		
	
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

Property Sales

Greg Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many residential property sales were recorded in the most recent year for which figures are available in the (a) £110,001 to £120,000, (b) £120,001 to £130,000, (c) 240,001 to £250,000, (d) £250,001 to £260,000, (e) £490,001 to £500,000 and (f) £500,001 to £510,000 brackets.

Ivan Lewis: The latest estimates for the number of residential sales in England and Wales are for 2004, and are given in the following table.
	
		Thousands
		
			 Value Range Number of sales 
		
		
			 £110,001 to £120,000 75 
			 £120,001 to £130, 000 81 
			 £240,001 to £250,000 44 
			 £250,001 to £260,000 8 
			 £490,001 to £500,000 4 
			 £500,001 to £510,000 (101)— 
		
	
	(101) indicates that the number of sales was below 500.

Saulet & Co.

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Land Transfer Returns Certificates will be issued for the balance of development no. 401908146MZ, which Saulet & Company applied for on 25 May 2005.

Ivan Lewis: HM Revenue and Customs is statutorily debarred from disclosing publicly information relating to the tax affairs of individuals or public and private sector bodies. I have, however, written to the hon. Gentleman about the issue of the certificates concerned.

Scottish Constituencies

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is his policy to provide statistics relating to Scottish constituencies in terms of (a) Westminster and (b) Scottish Parliament boundaries.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Stewart Hosie, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking whether it is government policy to provide statistics relating to Scottish Constituencies in terms of (a) Westminster and (b) Scottish Parliament boundaries. (15642)
	The Office for National Statistics aims to provide data for any geography which can be built up from its basic geographical building block. Where the statistics are based on electoral wards it should be possible to provide such data for both types of Scottish Constituencies.
	In practice there is much Labour Force Survey, Claimant Count and Annual Business Inquiry data that is already available for both types of Scottish Constituencies. There is very little historical data as yet available for the new Scottish Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies. However investigations are in progress to determine how a best fit can be made to the wards used in the 1991 census that would then enable a 10 year back series to be created.
	On electoral statistics, it is the responsibility of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to collate and publish these on a UK basis, thus ONS publish electoral statistics on UK (Westminster) Parliamentary boundaries. The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) is responsible for collection of these statistics in Scotland. They are also responsible for providing any additional information that is required by the Scottish Parliament.

Security Contracts

Doug Henderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by his Department and public bodies and agencies for which he is responsible on security contracts with Group 4 Securicor in 2004–05; and if he will list (a) the nature and location of services provided and (b) the start and end dates of such contracts.

John Healey: HM Revenue and Customs and the Office of Government Commerce have contracts with Group 4 Securicor, the details of which are shown in the following table. None of the other public bodies for which the Chancellor is responsible (that is, HM Treasury, the Royal Mint, National Savings and Investments, Office for National Statistics, Government Actuary's Department, Valuation Office Agency, Debt Management Office, OGCbuying.solutions and the Statistics Commission) have had contracts with Group 4 Securicor in the past financial year. In some cases, their contractors may have subcontracted certain services to Group 4 Securicor, but in such arrangements, the costs, the services provided and the subcontract start and end dates are matters for the main contractors.
	
		
			  Name of body  Location  Nature of services provided  Contract start date  Contract end date Amount spent in 2004–05 (£000) 
		
		
			 HMRC Newcastle Manned guarding at HMRC Newcastle Estate 1996–97 October 2004 956 
			  UK wide Cash handling 1 April 2004 31 March 2006  
			   
			 OGC Leeds Keyholding and call-out response 30 June 2004 31 March 2006  
			   Security, receptionists 1 April 2004 30 November 2005 1/2 
			   Access control 1 April 2004 31 March 2006 1/2 
			  Edinburgh Keyholding and call-out response 1 November 2003 31 March 2006 1/2 
			  Norwich Access control, CCTV 1 April 2001 31 March 2006 257 
			   Security, receptionists, reprographics, post room, handyman, porterage 1 December 2000 30 November 2005 1/2  1/2  1/2 
			  London Access control; CCTV 1 April 2002 31 March 2006

Solar Energy

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce tax incentives for the installation of solar energy capacity in domestic dwellings; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The Government recognise the important contribution that renewable energy will make to its energy policy objectives. Accordingly, the Government have announced significant support for renewable and low carbon energy sources comprising capital grants and support for research and development totalling some £500 million. It has also introduced the Renewables Obligation which ensures all electricity suppliers produce a specified and increasing amount of energy from renewable sources. The Renewables Obligation is expected to be worth £1 billion a year to the industry by 2010. Within this context, over £20 million of Government funding have been allocated since 2002 under the Solar Photovoltaic Major Demonstration Programme to medium and large scale solar projects, with the Minister for Energy, (Malcolm Wicks) recently announcing funding of £1.5 million for 18 new solar installations across the UK.
	All consideration of fiscal measures is carried out as part of the Budget process.

Stamp Duty

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average level of stamp duty charged on a Right-to-Buy council property is.

Ivan Lewis: The latest available data is for 2003–04 and relates to the average (interpreted as the mean) price for sales of Right-to-Buy council properties in England. The estimated mean price for the sale of a Right-to-Buy (RTB) property is £43,000, which would mean there being no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on the sale of a property selling for that price. However the mean SDLT payable would not be zero if there were RTB properties which sold for more than the SDLT threshold (£60,000 in 2003–04). An estimate for the mean SDLT payable is not available although the median SDLT payable will be zero.

Stamp Duty

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent (a) representations he has received from and (b) meetings he has had with (i) the Law Society Stamp Duty Complaints Group and (ii) others concerning complaints about stamp duty; what initiatives he has implemented as a result; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Senior officials from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have had regular meetings with the President and members of both the Law Society of England and Wales and the Law Society of Scotland to discuss all aspects of Stamp Duty Land Tax, including complaints. HMRC have launched a number of initiatives, including a review of the reasons why land transaction returns are rejected. The results of this review have been shared with the representative bodies and details are available on the Stamp Taxes website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/so/sdlt8.htm
	HMRC Stamp Taxes are seeking to work very closely with key customers and stakeholders to improve the administration of Stamp Duty Land Tax wherever possible.
	In a statement issued on 7 September 2005 by the Law Society, Kevin Martin, President of the Law Society said:
	"I'm pleased the Revenue has shown a willingness to work with us. If the changes they have announced deliver real improvements to solicitors and their clients we will have solid foundations to build on for our future relationship."

Stamp Duty

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Stamp Duty submissions are waiting to be processed at the (a) Manchester and (b) Newcastle offices; and what plans he has to improve the service.

Ivan Lewis: The following table shows the items on hand in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office at Newcastle at the start of Monday 3 October.
	The SDLT 1 is the land transaction return.
	The SDLT 2 is a supplementary form required where there are more than two vendors or purchasers for a transaction.
	The SDLT 3 is a supplementary form where additional information is required to identify the relevant property or the transaction involves more than one property.
	The SDLT 4 is a supplementary form where additional information is required about the transaction, for example, the purchaser is a company, the interest purchased is non-residential, or in some lease transactions.
	The SDLT 5 is the certificate issued when the land transaction return has been completed correctly and any tax due has been paid. The work on hand refers to cases where a duplicate certificate has been requested by the purchaser or their solicitor.
	The SDLT 8 is issued where information on the land transaction return is missing or unclear or there is contradictory information.
	
		
			  
		
		
			 SDLT 312 
			 SDLT 2, SDLT 3 and SDLT 4 545 
			 SDLT 5 386 
			 SDLT 8 174 
		
	
	This represents approximately 1 day's work.
	The HMRC office at Manchester had 616 letters on hand regarding penalty appeals on Monday 3 October. HMRC will continue to keep their resources under review.
	Since 26 August, it has been possible to file SDLT returns on-line directly into the SDLT automated system. Using this service removes the need to use post, and (because of the in-built checks) has a very high probability of returns being correct 'first time' and results in an instant acknowledgement that the return has been accepted. HMRC is working with representative bodies to encourage the use of the service.

Tax Credits

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claimants there have been in the parliamentary constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire since the scheme began broken down by those (a) underpaid, (b) overpaid and (c) paid the correct amount.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates for 2003–04 of the numbers of in-work families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes for 2003–04 are published in "Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards 2003–04 Geographical Analysis." This publication and provisional estimates for the number of in-work families by constituency with tax credit awards as at selected dates in 2004–05 are available on the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm.

Tax Credits

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has instructed HM Revenue and Customs to suspend efforts to reclaim overpayment of tax credits until the families involved have been able to make representations to Inland Revenue officials.

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the oral statement of 12 July 2005, Official Report, column 720, on tax credits 
	(1)  what the process is for suspending the recovery of a tax credit overpayment in disputed cases; whether the award will be paid at the new rate of entitlement but not further reduced to recover the overpayment in circumstances where the overpayment arises as a result of (a) official error, (b) a change of circumstances and (c) a rise in income above the disregard; whether the amount of the overpayment will increase in value as a result of (i) interest charged by Revenue and Customs and (ii) the award of additional tax credits if the dispute is resolved in Revenue and Customs' favour; and when this process will begin;
	(2)  if he will list the options for suspension of the recovery of tax credit overpayments being tested.

Dawn Primarolo: The commitment is that in cases of genuine hardship where the recovery of overpayments is disputed, recovery is suspended while the dispute resolved. HMRC are considering technical options which will allow them to meet this commitment.

Tax Credits

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value was of tax credit payments made to people with awards whose incomes were in excess of (a) £50,000, (b) £52,000, (c) £55,000 and (d) £57,500 in (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05.

Dawn Primarolo: The aggregate 2003–04 entitlement for in-work families with such incomes were as follows. These figures have been prepared on the same basis as those given in my reply to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. George Osborne) on 14 July 2005, Official Report, columns 1172–73W.
	(a) £42 million
	(b) £21 million
	(c) £8 million
	(d) £2 million
	Figures for 2004–05 will not be available until all the awards are finalised.

Teenage Pregnancy

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many instances of teenage pregnancy there have been in Suffolk in each of the last eight years, broken down by local authority area.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Ruffley, dated 10 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many instances of teenage pregnancy there have been in Suffolk in each of the last eight years, broken down by local authority area. (15124)
	The latest year for which information is available is 2003. Figures for local authority areas in Suffolk from 1996 to 2003 are shown in the attached table.
	
		Number of teenage conceptions in Suffolk by local authority area, 1996 to 2003
		
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003(105) 
		
		
			 Suffolk 421 393 439 420 363 351 407 408 
			  
			 Babergh 43 41 42 48 42 33 44 42 
			 Forest Heath 36 34 33 29 23 28 22 29 
			 Ipswich 103 105 126 121 101 100 107 104 
			 Mid Suffolk 38 37 27 37 29 34 40 52 
			 St. Edmundsbury 57 47 68 48 45 40 37 46 
			 Suffolk Coastal 61 58 62 56 38 44 39 52 
			 Waveney 83 71 81 81 85 72 118 83 
		
	
	(105) Figures for 2003 are provisional.

Water, Sewerage and Electricity

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies spent on (i) water and sewerage services and (ii) electricity in each year from 1997.

John Healey: The information requested is in the following tables:
	
		Table 1: Water and sewerage services £
		
			  HMRC and VOA HMT OGC ONS GAD DMO NS&I Royal Mint 
		
		
			 1997–98 (106)— 52,000 (107)— (108)— (109)— (110)— (111)— 187,497 
			 1998–99 (106)— 56,000 (107)— 147,000 (109)— (110)— (111)— 187,027 
			 1999–2000 (106)— 44,000 (107)— 83,000 (109)— (110)— (111)— 166,210 
			 2000–01 (106)— 36,000 34,000 119,000 (109)— (110)— (111)— 152,177 
			 2001–02 (106)— 44,000 24,000 115,000 (109)— (110)— (111)— 153,464 
			 2002–03 1,720,000 15,000 20,000 100,000 (109)— (110)— (111)— 136,356 
			 2003–04 2,490,000 19,000 12,000 101,000 (109)1,500 (110)— (111)— 161,511 
			 2004–05 2,398,757 13,242 19,000 90,000 2,185 (110)— (111)— 177,652 
		
	
	(106) The information for years 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, and 2001–02 is not available to us and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
	(107) OGC only came in to being in 2000.
	(108) No records for 1997–98.
	(109) Information included within IR figures for 1997 to October 1999 and HMCE from October 1999 to July 2003. 2003–04 costs are from July 2003 only.
	(110) DMO costs are included in the service charge and disaggregated data for water and sewerage services are unavailable.
	(111) NS&I occupy a MOTO agreement with HMRC and are invoiced quarterly for their utilities. Given the nature of how HMRC invoice them it is not possible to break down costs. The average spend per annum on utilities is £35,000.
	
		Table 2: Electricity £
		
			  HMRC and VOA HMT OGC ONS GAD DMO NS&I Royal Mint 
		
		
			 1997–98 (112)— 221,000 (113)— (114)— (115)— (114)— (116)— 1,376,000 
			 1998–99 (112)— 218,000 (113)— 695,000 (115)— 8,000 (116)— 1,403,000 
			 1999–2000 (112)— 257,000 (113)— 672,000 (115)— 10,000 (116)— 1,658,000 
			 2000–01 (112)— 161,000 165,000 533,000 (115)— 10,000 (116)— 1,363,000 
			 2001–02 9,500,000 134,000 206,000 697,000 (115)— 11,000 (116)— 1,158,000 
			 2002–03 11,889,000 288,000 190,000 536,000 (115)— 13,000 (116)— 950,000 
			 2003–04 12,062,000 356,230 198,000 633,000 (115)25,000 48,000 (116)— 1,071,000 
			 2004–05 10,446,729 342,231 150,000 755,000 83,000 39,000 (116)— 1,496,000 
		
	
	(112) The information for years 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, and 2001–02 is not available to us and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
	(113) OGC only came in to being in 2000.
	(114) No records for 1997–98.
	(115) Information included within IR figures for 1997 to October 1999 and HMCE from October 1999 to June 2003. 2003–04 costs are from June 2003 only.
	(116) NS&I occupy a MOTO agreement with HMRC and are invoiced quarterly for their utilities. Given the nature of how HMRC invoice them it is not possible to break down costs. The average spend per annum on utilities is £35,000.

A-levels

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to introduce an A star grade for the A level qualification.

Jacqui Smith: There are no plans to introduce an A star grade for the A level qualification. Our 14–19 White Paper sets out our proposals for increasing greater stretch and differentiation in A level, through the introduction of a new section in A level papers covering Advanced Extension Award type material, and the introduction of an Extended Project. We also support moves by UCAS and the Joint Council for Qualifications to provide Higher Education Institutions with students' A level unit grades.

Bullying

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of cases of bullying in secondary schools in each London borough in each year since 2001.

Jacqui Smith: As data on bullying is not collected centrally we do not have statistics relating to the number of cases of bullying in each London borough. Bullying cases appear to be reported more often now than previously but we have no hard evidence that bullying is increasing or that it is affecting more children. Indeed, as children and young people increasingly feel safe at school to report bullying, and confident that it will be tackled effectively and sensitively, it is likely reporting will rise.
	However, any level of bullying is too high and we are determined to help schools tackle the problem. Our guidance pack 'Bullying: Don't Suffer in Silence', the anti-bullying Charter and the anti-bullying website www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying offer detailed advice on preventing and addressing bullying. We also offer specific advice to schools on tackling homophobic bullying and are developing advice on racist bullying.
	We have raised awareness of the importance of children who are being bullied telling an adult about what is happening, through our public information film 'Tell Someone' and our leaflets and postcards for children and their parents. Our recent 'Beat Bullying' blue wristband campaign was launched in partnership with Radio 1, during the first national anti-bullying week in November 2004. By the end of December, one million children and young people had answered our call to 'Make a Stand, Wear a Band' and make a visible commitment that they are not prepared to tolerate bullying and will stand by their friends.

Class Sizes

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in (a) primary, (b) middle and (c) upper schools in Bury St. Edmunds constituency has been in each year since 1997.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Maintained primary, secondary and middle schools: Average class size (117)—position as at January each year—Bury St. Edmunds parliamentary constituency
		
			  Classes taught by one teacher 
			  Primary schools of which: middle deemed primary Secondary schools of which: middle deemed secondary 
		
		
			 1997 25.4 0.0 20.6 22.7 
			 1998 25.3 0.0 20.6 23.1 
			 1999 25.6 0.0 20.6 23.1 
			 2000 24.4 0.0 21.3 22.9 
			 2001 24.1 0.0 21.5 25.2 
			 2002 25.0 0.0 21.5 25.0 
			 2003 24.4 0.0 21.2 24.2 
			 2004 24.7 0.0 22.0 25.0 
			 2005 25.2 0.0 21.7 24.2 
		
	
	(117) Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Departmental Estate

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what parts of her Department's estate will not be covered by the commitments set out in the framework for sustainable development on the Government estate.

Maria Eagle: The following buildings on the Department's estate are not covered by the commitments set out in the framework for sustainable development on the Government estate:
	Bolton St/Piccadilly; Sheffield Nursery; Blenheim Court, Peterborough;
	Fountain Hall, Bradford; 1st Floor Wesley House, Luton; 2nd Floor Skyline
	House, London; Manorgate House, Kingston upon Thames; Bayley House,
	Bolton; Atlas House, Bolton; 200 Great Dover Street, London; Medway
	Skillcentre Annexe, Sittingbourne; Middlesbrough Skillcentre Annexe; Ground
	and 1st Floor Skyline House, London; Albion Wharf, York; Brandon Court,
	Coventry; The Oaks, Redditch; Enterprise House, Wolverhampton; 12
	Grosvenor, Crescent London; and Acorn House, Grimsby; Wales Bar and
	Maltravers Road, Sheffield.
	The above premises are either vacant, sub let to private occupiers, occupied by non departmental public bodies or occupied by less than 50 people.
	The Department's HQ buildings in London, Sheffield, Darlington and Runcorn are covered by the framework commitments.

Education Funding

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her estimate is of per capita funding for 16 to 18-year-olds (a) in colleges and (b) in schools over the next 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: Available funding is determined through the spending review process and therefore we are not in a position to estimate what funding for 16 to 18-year-olds in colleges or in schools will be over the next 10 years. The Department allocates money, via an annual grant letter, to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who then decide how best to allocate the money in order to meet the Government's priorities.
	The Department's Grant Letter to the LSC in November 2004 set out a funding allocation of £9.3 billion in 2005–06, £9.6 billion in 2006–07 and £10.1 billion in 2007–08.
	The LSC is currently finalising its forward plans and when that process is completed, we will understand what the outcomes of the spending review 2004 will mean for funding rates for both colleges and schools for 2006–07 and the subsequent spending review years.

Education Funding

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the levels of funding for (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) further and (d) higher education in Forest of Dean.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested on school and further education funding is collected at local authority level rather than on the basis of specific geographical areas. The Forest of Dean is part of Gloucestershire local education authority (LEA) and the table contains information on primary, secondary and further education for the financial year 2005–06. The Higher Education Funding Council for England provides funding directly to institutions, rather than to regions, and there are no higher education institutions in the Forest of Dean area.
	
		
			  Gloucestershire LEA Revenue funding 2005–06 (£ million) 
		
		
			 Pupils aged 3 to 10 (118)171.7 
			 Pupils aged 11 to 19 (118)186.9 
			 Further Education students (not including  school sixth forms) (119)43.3 
		
	
	(118) The figure includes revenue funding via Education Formula Spending (EPS), revenue grants allocated at an LEA level and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding for school sixth forms.
	Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of EFS settlements and include the pensions transfer to EFS and the LSC.
	Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 3 to 10 and 11 to 19 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances and grants not allocated at LEA level.
	Price Base: cash.
	Rounding: total funding figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million.
	Status: 2005–06 figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited.
	(119) This figure is the revenue funding allocated to colleges and other learning providers in Gloucestershire for further education provision. The figure does not include other post-16 provision such as Adult and Community learning and Work Based learning for Young People.

Foster Carers

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of adequacy of funding for (a) allowances, (b) fees, (c) training and (d) management and support costs for foster carers; and if she will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: There has already been significant investment in funding for children's social services; total funding (including Formula Spending Share and Specific Grants) is £4.26 billion in 2005–06—up £00 million (or 8 per cent.) on 2004–05. In terms of future years, formula spending for children's social services is to rise by £500 million between 2005–06 and 2007–08 to a total of £4.5 billion. This funding provision is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to plan to meet their own priorities—including for fostering services.
	It is important to consider funding for fostering services alongside the investment made in related children's social services. Local authorities need to ensure that they have effective strategies in place for planning and delivering provision for all their children and young people who have additional needs, and that they make efficient use of available resources.

Further Education

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils aged 16 to 18 have been educated in (a) further education colleges and (b) sixth forms in schools, in England since 2000, broken down by local authority.

Bill Rammell: Participation estimates of education by local authority are only available for those young people aged 16 and 17.
	The number of these people participating in full-time education in further education colleges (including sixth form colleges) and school sixth forms (including independent schools) in each local authority are given in the table. The figures are given as at the end of the calendar year 2000 to 2003 (latest available).
	This information is taken from the publication "Participation in Education and Training by 16 and 17 Year Olds in Each Local Area in England, 2002 and 2003".
	
		Participation in full-time education of 16 and 17 year-olds by local authority in England, end 2000 onwards Numbers
		
			  School sixth forms (including independent) FE colleges (including sixth form colleges)(120) 
			  2000 2001 2002 (121)2003 2000 2001 2002 (121)2003 
		
		
			 North East 17,100 17,000 16,800 16,000 24,100 24,000 23,600 23,200 
			 Hartlepool 300 300 300 300 1,300 1,200 1,200 1,300 
			 Middlesbrough 400 300 300 300 2,300 2,200 2,300 2,300 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 100 100 100 — 2,300 2,100 2,100 2,100 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 800 800 800 700 2,600 2,600 2,600 2,600 
			 Darlington 200 200 300 200 1,400 1,300 1,300 1,300 
			 Durham 3,400 3,400 3,500 3,200 3,900 4,000 4,000 3,900 
			 Northumberland 3,800 3,800 3,800 3,700 1,300 1,300 1,300 1,400 
			 Gateshead 1,600 1,600 1,600 1,700 1,400 1,400 1,400 1,100 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 3,200 3,100 3,000 2,900 1,100 1,100 1,200 1,100 
			 North Tyneside 1,700 1,700 1,700 1,500 1,500 1,400 1,400 1,400 
			 South Tyneside 400 400 300 300 2,100 2,200 1,900 1,700 
			 Sunderland 1,300 1,300 1,200 1,000 3,100 3,100 3,000 2,900 
			  
			 Northwest 41,200 41,000 40,500 39,800 74,800 73,900 70,900 68,800 
			 Halton 400 400 500 500 2,000 1,800 1,500 1,400 
			 Warrington 1,300 1,300 1,300 1,300 2,000 1,900 1,800 1,800 
			 Cheshire 6,500 6,400 6,300 6,500 5,100 5,400 5,200 5,000 
			 Cumbria 4,800 4,700 4,800 4,600 3,100 3,000 3,100 2,900 
			 Bolton 2,000 2,000 1,800 1,800 2,600 2,700 2.700 2,800 
			 Bury 600 600 600 500 2,800 2,800 2,700 2,500 
			 Manchester 2,200 2,100 2,000 2,000 5,600 5,500 5,000 4,800 
			 Oldham 900 900 900 1,200 3,000 3,000 2,900 2,600 
			 Rochdale 900 900 1,000 800 2,500 2,400 2,200 2,200 
			 Salford 200 200 200 100 2,800 2,800 2,600 2,400 
			 Stockport 800 800 700 600 4,100 4,100 4,000 4,100 
			 Tameside 300 300 300 300 3,200 3,100 3,100 2,900 
			 Trafford 1,700 1,600 1,600 1,700 2,100 2,000 1,800 1,800 
			 Wigan 500 600 600 500 4,100 4,100 3,900 3,800 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 700 700 700 600 2,200 2,200 2,100 2,000 
			 Blackpool 400 400 400 300 1,700 1,500 1,500 1,500 
			 Lancashire 5,100 5,000 5,100 4,800 13,900 13,700 13,300 13,300 
			 Knowsley 700 700 700 300 1,900 1,900 1,900 1,800 
			 Liverpool 4,500 4,500 4,300 4,300 2,900 2,800 2,700 2,500 
			 St. Helens 900 900 900 1,000 2,000 2,000 1,900 1,900 
			 Sefton 2,300 2,400 2,300 2,600 3,000 2,900 2,900 2,900 
			 Wirral 3,700 3,600 3,500 3,400 2,100 2,000 2,100 1,900 
			  
			 Yorkshire and the Number 36,600 36,100 35,500 34,700 44,000 43,200 42,200 40,400 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 3,000 2,900 2,900 2,900 2,500 2,400 2,200 2,200 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 700 700 700 500 3,400 3,100 3,000 2,700 
			 North East Lincolnshire 500 500 500 400 2,300 2,300 2,200 2,100 
			 North Lincolnshire 300 300 300 300 2,500 2,400 2,300 2,300 
			 York 1,400 1,300 1,400 1,200 1,600 1,600 1,700 1,600 
			 North Yorkshire 5,900 5,800 5,700 6,100 4,200 4,100 4,300 3,500 
			 Barnsley 400 400 400 300 2,600 2,500 2,500 2,400 
			 Doncaster 2,800 2,700 2,600 2,600 1,700 1,800 1,700 1,700 
			 Rotherham 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,800 2,400 2,400 2,300 2.300 
			 Sheffield 2,800 2,600 2,500 2,100 4,600 4,300 4,100 4,200 
			 Bradford 5,900 5,800 5,900 5,200 2,700 2,800 2,600 2,600 
			 Calderdale 2,100 2,100 2,000 2,000 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 
			 Kirklees 1,600 1,700 1,800 1,700 4,600 4,600 4,600 4,500 
			 Leeds 6,000 5,900 5,700 6,000 4,700 4,600 4,400 4,100 
			 Wakefield 1,700 1,800 1,700 1,700 3,200 3,200 3,200 3,100 
			  
			 East Midlands 37,700 36,700 38,200 35,600 31,300 31,000 30,200 28,300 
			 Derby 1,700 1,700 1,600 1,500 1,800 1,800 1,800 1,900 
			 Derbyshire 6,000 5,900 5,900 5,700 5,400 5,300 5,100 4,400 
			 Leicester 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,000 4,300 4,200 4,100 3,900 
			 Rutland 700 700 700 600 400 400 400 400 
			 Leicestershire 7,100 6,800 6,900 7,000 3,500 3,500 3,400 3,300 
			 Lincolnshire 5,800 5,500 5,600 5,800 4,500 4,500 4,500 4,000 
			 Northamptonshire 6,900 6,900 6,700 6,600 3,900 3,600 3,500 3,300 
			 Nottingham 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,100 2,600 2,700 2,700 2,600 
			 Nottinghamshire 6,400 6,300 6,200 6,200 5,100 5,000 4,800 4,500 
			  
			 West Midlands 41,700 40,700 40,100 39,100 49,400 48,700 47,300 46,600 
			 Herefordshire 600 700 700 600 2,200 2,100 2,100 2,000 
			 Worcestershire 5,600 5,300 5,300 5,300 4,600 4,500 4,400 4,300 
			 Telford and Wrekin 700 700 600 800 2,000 2,000 1,900 1,900 
			 Shropshire 1,900 2,000 2,000 2,000 3,200 3,000 2,900 3,000 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 500 500 500 300 2,800 2,800 2,800 2,900 
			 Staffordshire 7,900 7,700 7,600 7,500 5,800 5,600 5,800 5,600 
			 Warwickshire 4,500 4,300 4,200 4,200 4,200 4,200 4,000 4,000 
			 Birmingham 7,800 7,800 7,700 7,500 10,000 10,200 9,900 9,600 
			 Coventry 3,300 3,200 3,100 3,000 1,900 2,000 1,900 1,900 
			 Dudley 600 600 600 400 4,100 4,000 3,700 3,700 
			 Sandwell 1,500 1,300 1,200 1,000 3,000 3,100 2,900 2,800 
			 Solihull 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,300 2,400 2,500 2,400 2,300 
			 Walsall 2,700 2,700 2,800 2,700 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,500 
			 Wolverhampton 2,800 2,700 2,700 2,500 1,500 1,400 1,200 1,200 
			  
			 East of England 49,800 49,800 49,000 48,100 41,900 40,100 38,300 38,700 
			 Luton 500 400 400 200 3,100 3,100 2,800 2,900 
			 Bedfordshire 5,000 5,100 4,900 4,800 2,100 2,000 1,800 1,700 
			 Peterborough 1,600 1,700 1,700 2,000 900 900 800 800 
			 Cambridgeshire 4,100 4,200 4,100 3,700 5,600 5,300 5,300 5,200 
			 Southend-on-Sea 1,300 1,300 1,200 1,400 1,200 1,200 1,100 1,200 
			 Thurrock 100 100 100 — 2,000 1,900 1,900 1,800 
			 Essex 10,000 10,000 10,000 9,100 11,300 10,900 10,400 10,800 
			 Hertfordshire 14,500 14,200 13,700 14,400 5,400 5,300 5,300 5,600 
			 Norfolk 5,600 5,700 5,800 5,500 6,100 5,800 5,400 5,500 
			 Suffolk 7,000 7,000 7,100 6,900 4,100 3,800 3,600 3,300 
			  
			 Greater London 67,100 63,900 62,300 58,700 59,800 59,200 56,200 54,700 
			  
			 Inner London 19,800 19,000 18,600 17,100 24,100 23,900 22,500 21,800 
			  
			 Outer London 47,300 44,900 43,700 41,700 35,800 35,200 33,600 32,900 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,400 1,300 1,300 1,300 1,200 1,100 1,000 1,000 
			 Barnet 4,100 3,900 3,800 4,100 1,900 1,900 1,900 1,800 
			 Bexley 2,400 2,200 2,100 2,000 1,400 1,400 1,400 1,300 
			 Brent 3,200 2,900 2,800 2,300 2,200 2,300 2,200 2,100 
			 Bromley 4,000 3,900 3,800 4,100 1,100 1,200 1,100 1,000 
			 Croydon 3,200 3,000 2,700 2,300 3,600 3,500 3,300 3,300 
			 Ealing 3,400 3,300 3,200 2,300 2,300 2,300 2,200 2,300 
			 Enfield 3,100 3,000 3,100 3,000 2,300 2,300 2,000 2,000 
			 Greenwich 2,300 2,100 2,000 1,700 1,500 1,400 1,400 1,400 
			 Harrow 2,200 2,100 2,000 800 2,800 2,800 2,800 2,700 
			 Havering 1,100 1,000 1,000 1,000 2,700 2,700 2,600 2,600 
			 Hillingdon 2,800 2,800 2,800 2,900 1,600 1,600 1,400 1,300 
			 Hounslow 2,200 2,200 2,100 2,800 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,400 
			 Kingston upon Thames 1,800 1,600 1,600 1,900 900 900 900 900 
			 Merton 1,400 1,400 1,300 900 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,500 
			 Redbridge 3,700 3,500 3,600 4,100 1,400 1,400 1,400 1,200 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1,400 1,300 1,300 1,000 1,600 1,500 1,500 1,400 
			 Sutton 2,200 2,100 2,000 2,600 1,000 1,000 900 1,000 
			 Waltham Forest 1,300 1,300 1,300 800 3,000 2,900 2,700 2,600 
			  
			 South East 73,200 71,800 70,700 70,200 69,200 67,000 64,700 63,200 
			 Bracknell Forest 1,400 1,400 1,400 1,300 800 700 700 700 
			 Reading 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,400 700 600 800 700 
			 Slough 1,200 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,000 1,100 900 800 
			 West Berkshire 2,300 2,200 2,300 2,600 600 700 600 600 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 2,300 2,200 2,100 2,200 500 600 600 600 
			 Wokingham 2,300 2,100 2,000 1,900 800 900 900 600 
			 Milton Keynes 2,500 2,400 2,400 1,900 1,300 1,200 1,000 800 
			 Buckinghamshire 6,700 6,700 6,400 6,600 2,000 2,100 2,200 2,000 
			 Brighton and Hove 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,600 2,200 2,100 2,100 2,100 
			 East Sussex 3,200 3,100 3,300 3,100 5,300 5,200 4,900 4,800 
			 Portsmouth 400 500 500 500 2,700 2,500 2,300 2,200 
			 Southampton 300 400 400 400 2,600 2,600 2,700 2,500 
			 Hampshire 3,200 3,200 3,200 2,900 19,100 18,200 17,700 17,100 
			 Isle of Wight 1,400 1,400 1,400 1,400 800 800 800 800 
			 Kent 16,900 16,400 16,100 16,100 7,500 7,300 6,800 6,800 
			 Medway 2,900 2,800 2,700 2,800 1,500 1,700 1,600 1,600 
			 Oxfordshire 7,200 7,000 6,900 6,600 3,200 3,000 3,100 3,500 
			 Surrey 10,500 10,500 10,200 10,200 9,100 8,500 8,500 8,200 
			 West Sussex 5,500 5,400 5,300 5,500 7,300 7,100 6,600 6,700 
			  
			 South West 44,500 43,300 42,700 42,200 40,800 40,000 38,400 37,900 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 2,100 2,100 2,200 2,500 1,100 1,000 900 900 
			 Bristol, City of 3,100 3,200 3,000 2,600 3,200 3,000 3,000 2,700 
			 North Somerset 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,600 1,500 1,500 1,600 
			 South Gloucestershire 2,300 2,200 2,300 2,400 1,600 1,600 1,500 1,500 
			 Cornwall 3,000 3,000 3,000 2,900 5,600 5,700 5,500 5,600 
			 Plymouth 2,900 2,800 2,900 3,100 1,200 1,200 1,100 1,000 
			 Torbay 1,300 1,200 1,200 1,300 700 700 700 700 
			 Devon 5,900 5,700 5,500 4,900 5,900 5,700 5,600 5,700 
			 Bournemouth 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300 1,200 1,200 
			 Poole 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,500 800 900 900 900 
			 Dorset 4,800 4,500 4,500 4,200 2,300 2,400 2,200 2,100 
			 Gloucestershire 6,400 6,200 5,900 6,000 3,700 3,600 3,400 3,400 
			 Somerset 3,700 3,600 3,500 3,400 5,600 5,500 5,400 5,300 
			 Swindon 400 300 400 400 2,800 2,500 2,400 2,200 
			 Wiltshire 4,400 4,400 4,400 4,200 3,400 3,300 3,200 3,100 
			  
			 England 409,000 400,200 393,900 384,400 435,300 426,900 411,700 401,800 
		
	
	(120) Further education colleges will include a small number of 16 and 17 year-olds in HE institutions.
	(121) Provisional

Further Education

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to assist recruitment and retention in further education colleges.

Bill Rammell: The Government are committed to supporting FE colleges in their efforts to recruit and retain high calibre staff and currently funds two specific programmes of financial incentives to encourage teachers to work in colleges. A pilot programme offering bursaries to trainee teachers undertaking a full-time postgraduate certificate of education; a programme offering "Golden Helios" to new college teachers in certain designated shortage subjects. In addition the keyworker living programme offers support to FE teachers in London and the South East in respect of housing costs.
	These financial incentives are currently under review and the outcome of the review will be announced shortly.

Headteachers' Staffing Reviews

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assistance and advice is available to head teachers to complete their staffing structure reviews.

Jacqui Smith: The document, "Review of the School Staffing Structure: Guidance for Schools in England", which was produced and published by the Rewards and Incentives Group (RIG) in May 2005 (and is also available on Teachernet and Governornet websites), provides governing bodies and head teachers with comprehensive support in identifying the key steps necessary to conduct an effective review of the staffing structure.
	For those schools that need additional, practical, and in some cases, face to face support in order to complete an effective review, they are able to request support and advice from the local authorities' link and human resources advisers and the four unions and associations that are part of RIG. Further support and guidance is also available from RIG in the form of a national RIG helpline, a self-assessment tool for schools to use in identifying any further assistance needed, and a set of Frequently Asked Questions, which is available on partners' websites. This has been complemented by the hosting of six regional workshops by RIG partners for local authorities and head teachers, the focus of which has been the provision of practical support and sharing of best practice which can be shared widely across schools to assist the restructuring process.

Higher Education Initial Participation Rates

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills under what circumstances students whose domicile is (a) non-UK and (b) unknown are included in the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate; and how many students there were in each category in each year between 1999–2000 and 2003–04.

Bill Rammell: pursuant to the reply, 12 July 2005, Official Report, c. 1016W
	I am providing an amended response following receipt of further information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). No students explicitly recorded as non-UK have been included in the HEIPR. Students with unknown domiciles at English institutions are assumed to be English and have been included in the HEIPR, unless the institution records that they are not eligible to pay home fees.
	The first table records the number of students listed with unknown domiciles, who may be included in the HEIPR, depending upon their prior HE status. The second is provided for comparative purposes and gives the total number of initial entrants in the HEIPR (in thousands).
	
		Entrants with unknown domiciles, who may be included in the HEIPR Thousand
		
			 Academic year No prior HE(122) Unknown prior HE(123) 
		
		
			 1999/2000 575 235 
			 2000/01 1,380 145 
			 2001/02 670 110 
			 2002/03 980 170 
			 2003/04 700 200 
		
	
	(122) Entrants with no prior HE are included in the HEIPR.
	(123) Entrants with unknown prior HE status qualify in the HEIPR on a pro-rata basis, therefore only a proportion of these students will be included.
	Notes:
	1. Figures rounded to the nearest 5.
	2. Information derived from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record.
	
		Entrants counted within the HEIPR
		
			 Academic year Number of initial entrants (Thousand) 
		
		
			 1999/2000 246 
			 2000/01 249 
			 2001/02 255 
			 2002/03 268 
			 2003/04 269 
		
	
	Source:
	Information derived from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record and Learning and Skills Council Individualised Learner Record.

International Baccalaureate

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Government are taking to widen the availability of the International Baccalaureate in the state sector.

Jacqui Smith: The International Baccalaureate Diploma is a QCA accredited qualification and it is approved for use in the state sector if they wish to offer this. We have no plans to promote the use of the International Baccalaureate (IB) in the state sector.
	In our recent 14–19 Education & Skills White Paper we explained, that as part of the proposed changes to A levels, we will pilot an extended project. We see this as a single piece of work, requiring planning, preparation, research and independent working. We expect it to become a universally available option to add stretch, breadth and interest for many sixth formers. In doing so, we will draw on the experience of qualifications such as the IB.

Looked-after Children

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the annual cost of looking after the children of adults who have themselves previously been in care in 2004–05.

Jacqui Smith: The Government have made no estimates of the costs in 2004–05 of looking after the children of adults who had themselves been previously looked-after.

Music Teaching

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average cost to those people who have to contribute to the study of a musical instrument at school is.

Jacqui Smith: This information is not part of the Department's statutory annual data collection. However, in February we undertook a survey of all local authority music services which included questions about the cost of instrumental tuition provided by music services. The survey findings will be available in November 2005.

Overcrowded Housing

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the impact on education of overcrowding in housing in England; and if she will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published "The Impact of Overcrowding on Health and Education: A Review of the Evidence and Literature" in May 2004. The report (ISBN 1 85112 7110) was placed in the Library of the House.
	DfES has not conducted an independent assessment of the issue. I am not aware of any significant evidence that subsequently adds to the assessment of the ODPM publication.

Part-time Students

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what research she has conducted on the financial situation of part-time students;
	(2)  what research she has conducted on the impact of new fees regulations in higher education institutions with an atypically high level of part-time students;
	(3)  what recent assessment she has made of the merits of fee deferrals for part-time students;
	(4)  what representations she has received from (a) higher education institutions and (b) the Office for Fair Access on the impact on student access of differences between the full-time and part-time student support regimes.

Bill Rammell: pursuant to the reply, 18 July 2005, Official Report, c. 1406–07W
	It should be noted that the publication date of the report, "Earning, Learning and Paying: The Results from a National Survey of the Costs and Financing of Part-time Students in Higher Education", referred to in my answer was December 2004, not November as previously stated.
	A copy of the report is available in the House of Commons Library.

Pupil Funding (London)

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the per capita pupil funding in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools was in each London borough, in the last year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is contained within the following table:
	
		2005–06 Total funding per pupil aged 3–10 and 11–15 by London LEA £
		
			 LEA name Pupils aged 3–10 Pupils aged 11–15 
		
		
			 Camden 5,710 6,820 
			 Greenwich 5,200 6,460 
			 Hackney 5,900 7,670 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 5,550 6,780 
			 Islington 5,700 7.210 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 5,700 7,200 
			 Lambeth 5,700 7,600 
			 Lewisham 5,340 6,950 
			 Southwark 5,480 7,210 
			 Tower Hamlets 6,130 7,360 
			 Wandsworth 5,050 6,360 
			 Westminster 5,450 6,460 
			 Barking and Dagenham 4,320 5,290 
			 Barnet 4,240 5,150 
			 Bexley 3,760 4,640 
			 Brent 4,830 6,050 
			 Bromley 3,780 4,710 
			 Croydon 4,080 5,220 
			 Ealing 4,670 5,840 
			 Enfield 4,280 5,190 
			 Haringey 4,980 6,290 
			 Harrow 4,220 5,140 
			 Havering 3,730 4,710 
			 Hillingdon 4,120 5,060 
			 Hounslow 4,550 5,470 
			 Kingston upon Thames 3,890 4,790 
			 Merton 4,220 5,210 
			 Newham 4,960 5,980 
			 Redbridge 4,030 4,810 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3,820 4,780 
			 Sutton 3,850 4,710 
			 Waltham Forest 4,540 5,680 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Total funding includes funding via education formula spending (EFS)/standard spending assessment and revenue grants allocated at an LEA level. It includes the pensions transfer to EPS and the Learning and Skills Council.
	2. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES departmental expenditure limits relevant to pupils aged 3–10 and 11–15 and exclude EMAs and grants not allocated at LEA level.
	3. The pupil numbers used to convert m figures to per pupil are those underlying the EPS settlement calculations.
	4. Data as reported by the LEA and reported in cash terms rounded to the nearest £10.

School Meals

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils were eligible for free school meals in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in each London borough in the last period for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools(124): School meal arrangements(125)—January 2005—by each London local authority
		
			   Maintained nursery and primary schools Maintained secondary schools 
			   Number on roll Number known to be eligible for free school meals Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals Number on roll Number known to be eligible for free school meals Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals 
		
		
			  London 633,190 169,520 26.8 422,860 101,240 23.9 
			  Inner London 233,100 89,240 38.3 127,910 49,490 38.7 
			 202 Camden 11,580 4,820 41.6 9,780 3,030 31.0 
			 201 City of London 220 70 30.8 — — — 
			 204 Hackney 18,140 7,380 40.7 7,220 2,790 38.6 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 10,070 4,490 44.6 7,050 2,310 32.7 
			 309 Haringey 22,100 7,690 34.8 11,430 4,240 37.1 
			 206 Islington 14,680 6,290 42.8 7,970 3,430 43.0 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 7,320 2,960 40.5 3,510 990 28.3 
			 208 Lambeth 20,270 7,680 37.9 7,910 3,030 38.3 
			 209 Lewisham 22,140 6,160 27.8 11,720 3,240 27.6 
			 316 Newham 31,520 11,190 35.5 18,070 7,560 41.9 
			 210 Southward 23,610 8,610 36.5 10,240 4,740 46.3 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 22,700 12,260 54.0 14,190 8,730 61.5 
			 212 Wandsworth 17,530 5,240 29.9 10,250 2,590 25.2 
			 213 Westminster 11,230 4,410 39.3 8,560 2,810 32.8 
			  Outer London 400,090 80,280 20.1 294,960 51,750 17.5 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 18,490 4,740 25.6 12,290 3,300 26.9 
			 302 Barnet 26,420 5,200 19.7 19,630 2,880 14.7 
			 303 Bexley 20,780 2,570 12.4 18,290 1,640 8.9 
			 304 Brent 23,000 6,780 29.5 16,150 3,560 22.0 
			 305 Bromley 24,110 3,160 13.1 22,330 2,310 10.3 
			 306 Croydon 30,290 6,640 21.9 18,750 3,570 19.0 
			 307 Ealing 26,550 6,650 25.0 15,020 4,020 26.7 
			 308 Enfield 27,140 6,790 25.0 22,060 4,710 21.4 
			 203 Greenwich 21,170 7,480 35.3 . 15,170 4,770 31.4 
			 310 Harrow 19,510 3,220 16.5 9,020 1,740 19.3 
			 311 Havering 19,800 2,380 12.0 16,520 1,600 9.7 
			 312 Hillingdon 24,260 4,360 18.0 17,420 3,010 17.3 
			 313 Hounslow 18,860 4,250 22.5 16,600 3,250 19.6 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 11,720 860 7.3 9,590 800 8.3 
			 315 Merton 14,780 2,040 13.8 8,540 1,380 16.1 
			 317 Redbridge 23,890 4,130 17.3 20,310 3,050 15.0 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 12,760 1,240 9.7 7,290 1,190 16.4 
			 319 Sutton 15,200 2,060 13.6 15,970 1,280 8.0 
			 320 Waltham Forest 21,370 5,760 26.9 14,010 3,710 26.4 
		
	
	(124) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(125) Includes dually registered pupils and boarders.
	Note:
	Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

School Repairs (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the requirement for school building repairs in each London borough; and what the costs are estimated to be in each case.

Jacqui Smith: Data on school buildings maintenance has been supplied to the Department twice; firstly in 2000–01 and secondly in 2003. The following table shows, for the two data collections, figures for each London borough. Costs have been updated to current costs. In addition to backlog repair work, the figures cover work needed over a five year period from the dates of the assessments, including cyclical and scheduled maintenance.
	Central Government capital support for investment in schools has increased from under £700 million in 1996–97 to £5.5 billion this year and will rise further to £6.3 billion by 2007–08. Progress is being made year-by-year in improving the quality of the school building stock.
	
		Schools maintenance requirements
		
			  2001 2003 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham (126)— 62,441,458 
			 Barnet 65,613,661 76,672,453 
			 Bexley 41,501,485 46,147,620 
			 Brent 51,240,631 43,944,403 
			 Bromley 40,551,735 52,075,990 
			 Camden 21,660,660 24,608,598 
			 Croydon 27,576,388 29,752,920 
			 Ealing 53,591,843 48,767,105 
			 Enfield 71,824,888 53,015,502 
			 Greenwich 53,508,581 70,350,093 
			 Hackney 48,984,402 61,195,214 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 27,190,465 24,457,826 
			 Haringey (126)— 51,410,196 
			 Harrow 26,640,453 31,784,504 
			 Havering 69,694,380 63,341,119 
			 Hillingdon 36,085,579 40,372,718 
			 Hounslow 42,276,967 60,210,769 
			 Islington 56,921,338 38,624,909 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 11,395,334 10,127,270 
			 Kingston upon Thames 31,468,000 43,320,352 
			 Lambeth (126)— 107,414,349 
			 Lewisham 67,322,189 62,772,359 
			 Merton 27,565,651 23,008,613 
			 Newham 66,200,984 48,941,904 
			 Redbridge 49,774,860 45,019,902 
			 Richmond upon Thames 13,883,220 24,779,468 
			 Southwark 38,462,069 51,926,358 
			 Sutton 23,890,485 20,282,052 
			 Tower Hamlets 44,530,317 27,322,041 
			 Waltham Forest 38,597,729 26,742,607 
			 Wandsworth 77,255,488 77,255,488 
			 Westminster 39,387,252 29,212,585 
		
	
	(126) No data supplied, or data appraised as unreliable.

School Sports

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of schools offer lessons in (a) tennis, (b) swimming, (c) cricket, (d) rugby, (e) football, (f) netball and (g) lacrosse in (i) England, (ii) each region and (iii) each local education authority.

Jacqui Smith: The data requested in not held centrally in the format requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	The results of the 2004–05 PE, school sport survey found that:
	(a) 71 percent. of the 11,498 schools taking part in the survey offer tennis;
	(b) 83 percent. offer swimming;
	(c) 85 percent. offer cricket;
	(d) 82 percent. offer rugby (this is a combined figure for rugby union—71 percent. and league—11 percent.);
	(e) 97 percent. offer football;
	(f) 81 percent. offer netball; and
	(g) 4 percent. offer lacrosse.
	The results of the survey were published on 2 September 2005 and copies of the report (the results of the 2004–05 school sport survey) have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

SEN

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils with special educational needs live more than three miles away from the (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school that they attend; and if she will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested has been provided in the following table.
	
		The number and percentages of pupils with special educational needs who live more than three miles(127) away from the (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school that they attend
		
			  Primary schools Secondary schools Special schools Total 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
		
		
			 Total pupils travelling more than 3 miles to the school they attend 158,907 100.0 604,240 100.0 47,051 100.0 810,292 100.0 
			  
			 Pupils with no Special Educational Needs 128,836 81.1 523,663 86.7 117 0.2 652,616 80.5 
			 Pupils with Special Educational Needs at School Action 14,864 9.4 45,504 7.5 109 0.2 60,477 7.5 
			 Pupils with Special Educational Needs at School Action Plus 7,955 5.0 19,675 3.3 786 1.7 28,416 3.5 
			 Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs 7,252 4.6 15,398 2.5 46,039 97.9 68,689 8.5 
		
	
	(127) Distance is measured as a straight line between the pupils home postcode and the school postcode.
	Note:
	One secondary school from within Trafford Education Authority did not return a complete Plasc return in 2005. Therefore figures from this school have been discounted from the above table.
	Source:
	PLASC 2005 Final data

Sickness Absence

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many days were lost due to sickness among (a) teachers and (b) head teachers at (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: Sickness absence figures are collected at a national level only. It is not possible to separate school type or grade from this collection.
	The numbers of days lost due to sickness absence for the last five years in England are shown in the table.
	
		
			  Days lost Days lost per teacher 
		
		
			 2000 2,694,400 5.4 
			 2001 2,782,100 5.4 
			 2002 2,739,300 5.3 
			 2003 2,853,600 5.4 
			 2004 2,797,300 5.3 
		
	
	Source:
	DfES Annual Survey of Teachers in Service and Teacher Vacancies (618G)

Special Needs (Milton Keynes)

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding has been allocated to special needs provision in Milton Keynes in each of the last five years.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is contained within the following table:
	
		Budgeted net expenditure on the education of children with special educational needs
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2001–02 14,386,000 
			 2002–03 17,972,000 
			 2003–04 18,928,000 
			 2004–05 21,131,000 
			 2005–06 22,269,000 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Includes planned expenditure on the provision for pupils with statements and the provision for non-statemented pupils with SEN, support for inclusion, inter authority recoupment, fees for pupils at independent special schools and abroad, educational psychology service, LEA functions in relation to child protection, therapies and other health related services, parent partnership, guidance and information, the monitoring of SEN provision and inclusion administration, assessment and co-ordination. Also included is the funding delegated to primary and secondary schools identified as "notional SEN" and the individual schools budget for special schools. The figures recorded against "notional SEN" are only indicative of the amount that might by spent by schools on SEN and, from 2004–05 onwards, "notional SEN" delegated to nursery schools was reported on section 52 for the first time and this accounts for £10,975 and £16,944 of the 2004–05 and 2005–06 totals respectively. In 2005–06 Milton Keynes LEA also budgeted £1,662,081 for the transport of pupils with SEN but this is not included in the above totals as figures are not available prior to 2005–06.
	2. The figures reported are the amount allocated for SEN by Milton Keynes, as recorded on their section 52 budget statement, and are shown in cash terms and rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.

Sustainable Development Strategy

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent steps have been taken by her Department to review its arrangements for public reporting of its sustainable development impacts.

Maria Eagle: The Department is currently reviewing and updating the information contained on its website in the light of the 2005 UK Strategy and the requirement to produce the revised departmental action plans by December 2005.

Truancy

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many truancy sweeps have taken place within the Bedfordshire local education authority in each year since 1999; how many children were stopped in that period; how many children stopped did not have a valid reason for absence; how many hours of police time were spent on such sweeps; and if she will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: Local authorities have the discretion to organise truancy sweeps as they see fit and we do not collect data on these locally arranged sweeps. However, the Department has invited authorities to take part in nationally co-ordinated sweeps each autumn and spring since 2002–03. Bedfordshire has taken part in each of these sweeps and provided the following data to the Department:
	
		
			  Number 
			  Truancy sweeps Children stopped Children stopped without a valid reason 
		
		
			 Autumn 2002 (128)— 215 39 
			 Spring and autumn 2003 28 178 62 
			 Spring and autumn 2004 36 143 52 
			 Spring 2005 20 105 41 
		
	
	(128) Data not collected.
	We do not collect data on the length of time spent on the sweeps by either local authority staff or police officers.
	The Government believe that truancy sweeps are an effective tool to raise the profile of school attendance in the community and help to stop those pupils who may be in the early stages of drifting into the habit of truancy. They also reinforce the message to pupils and their families that school and local authorities take the issue of attendance seriously. Since nationally co-ordinated sweeps began in 2002, some 92,000 pupils have been stopped: 37,000 (nearly 40 per cent.) of them were out of school without a valid reason and 42 per cent. (almost 16,000) of those without a valid reason were with an adult.

Unskilled Adults

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of economically inactive adults without a level 2 qualification; and if she will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The Labour Force Survey estimates that in England, 49 per cent. of economically inactive adults are without a level 2 qualification. This equates to 2,917,000 people.
	In 2005–06 we will develop the capacity of the further education sector to deliver an entitlement to free tuition to study for a first full level 2 qualification. From September 2006, this entitlement will be available across the whole country, providing those adults taking up training with a platform of skills for employability.
	Under the new deal for skills we are mailing skills coaching and skills passports to help inactive adults develop the skills they need to return to the labour market and secure sustainable employment.

Video Conferencing Units

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many video conferencing units are installed in (a) her Department and (b) each agency of her Department; what percentage of offices have these facilities in each case; and what plans there are increase the number of such units.

Beverley Hughes: Every DfES building has a number of video conferencing units installed within it as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Darlington 7 
			 London(129) 20 
			 Runcorn 5 
			 Sheffield 11 
		
	
	(129) 14 Sanctuary Buildings/6 Caxton House.
	As the Department no longer has Agencies, no figures have been included in respect of that part of the question.
	At the present time, there are no formal plans to increase the number of Video conferencing units in the Department but we constantly monitor the amount of use made of the studios to inform decisions about the potential need for extra facilities.

Vocational/Academic Education

Jimmy Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment the Department has made of the impact of (a) graduate apprenticeships, (b) vocational certificates of education and (c) vocational GCSEs on (i) the workforce, (ii) employers and (iii) the economy since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Graduate apprenticeships were announced in 1998 but subsequently replaced by foundation degrees in 2001, although some sectors still fund their own work based learning at higher education level. No formal evaluation of graduate apprenticeships was undertaken.
	Vocational certificates of education (or vocation A-levels) replaced advanced GNVQs in 2000 but have now been redesigned for 2005 as general certificates of education in applied subjects. Just under 40,000 16–18 year-olds finished there VCE in 2003–04. Given how recently these were introduced the Department has not made the type of assessments requested.
	GCSEs in vocational subjects were introduced for first teaching in 2002. A relatively small entry of 113,202 sat the first examinations in 2004 and many of the candidates will still be in further education. The Department has therefore not made the type of assessments referred to in respect of this qualification.

Websites

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the websites that come under her Department's responsibility; what the cost was of each in the last year for which figures are available; and how many visitors there were to each site in that year.

Bill Rammell: The websites that the Department is responsible for are listed below, along with the number of visits to each for 2004 (the last whole year that stats are available for):
	
		
			  
		
		
			 www.dfes.gov.uk 10,859.230 
			 www, teachernetgov.uk 4,308,205 
			 www.connexions-direct.com 1,388,251 
			 www.surestart.gov.uk 1,050,171 
			 www.aimhigher.ac.uk 932.165 
			 www.parentcentre.gov.uk 881.819 
			 www.governornet.co.uk 662,607 
			 www.wavtolearn.co.uk 417,376 
			 www.need2know.co.uk 274,571 
			 www.skillsforemplovers.gov.uk 119,324 
			 Total number of visits 20,893,719 
		
	
	The hosting cost of these sites was £1,235,500.
	The Department currently has large numbers of sub-sites falling under the main sites listed in the response and these are developed by policy teams using their own budgets. It would therefore be a difficult and time-consuming task to co-ordinate across all policy directorates and communications teams (for campaign sites) to assess overall costs.
	The Department is working towards consolidation of these sites (which run into hundreds) into a small number of sites which specialise in delivering information and services to a particular audience, (e.g. for those working in schools). As well as this the new technical infrastructure, currently in procurement stage, will provide a centralised content management system (CMS) which means that more costs will be centralised, which will deliver better value for money.

Best Value Code of Practice

David Anderson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local authorities have been certified by the Audit Commission as applying the best value code of practice in local authority service contracts.

Phil Woolas: This concerns an operational issue for the Audit Commission. I will ask them to write to my hon. Friend and make copies of the letter available in the Library of the House.

Best Value Code of Practice

David Anderson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list cases of non-compliance with the best value code of practice on workforce matters in local authority service contracts that have been raised with the Audit Commission.

Phil Woolas: This concerns an operational issue for the Audit Commission. I will ask them to my hon. Friend and make copies of the letter available in the House Library.

Coalfield Housing

Tony Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans there are to extend the national coalfield housing agenda to include former National Coal Board housing estates in areas of high housing demand.

Yvette Cooper: Regional Housing Boards are responsible for developing strategies for addressing housing issues in their Regions. Each of the Regional Housing Boards for which former National Coal Board estates are a significant issue set out their plans for dealing with such housing in their first strategies, published in 2003. In the West Midlands, the Regional Housing Board has initiated research to provide more information on all areas of high priority highlighted its Strategy, including former National Coal Board housing. The research identified the eight former National Coal Board estates that are most urgently in need of intervention. This work will help to inform the revised Regional Housing Strategy, and future funding decisions.

Council Housing (Right to Buy)

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average (a) house price value and (b) cost to the purchaser was after the discount of a right to buy council property in England in (i) 1997 and (ii) the latest available year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: Average market value and average selling price figures for all council right to buy sales in England for 1997–98 and 2003–04 are tabled as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			  1997–98 2003–04 
		
		
			 Market value(130) 42.9 68.2 
			 Selling price 21.5 43.2 
		
	
	(130) Market value = selling price plus discount.
	Source:
	Quarterly returns on council house sales (P1B) from local authorities to the ODPM.

Council Tax

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average (a) band D council tax bill and (b) council tax per dwelling was in (i) England, (ii) Solihull and (iii) Birmingham in each year since the establishment of council tax.

Phil Woolas: Details of the average band D council tax bill and average council tax per dwelling in (a) England, (b) Birmingham and (c) Solihull in each year since the establishment of council tax in 1993–94 are shown in the following table.
	
		Average council taxes 1993–94 to 2005–06 £
		
			  Band D, two adults for area Average per dwelling 
			  England Birmingham Solihull England Birmingham Solihull 
		
		
			 1993–94 568 657 520 456 455 471 
			 1994–95 580 632 544 473 441 502 
			 1995–96 609 673 595 498 485 549 
			 1996–97 646 749 626 525 536 572 
			 1997–98 688 794 661 564 570 607 
			 1998–99 747 846 703 614 606 646 
			 1999–2000 798 893 742 656 638 687 
			 2000–01 847 938 786 697 670 726 
			 2001–02 901 979 852 741 699 783 
			 2002–03 976 1,026 910 804 739 837 
			 2003–04 1,102 1,079 1,008 908 779 924 
			 2004–05 1,167 1,106 1,045 967 787 957 
			 2005–06 1,214 1,139 1,095 1,009 820 1,003 
		
	
	The amounts shown are headline taxes, before transitional reliefs and benefits and after capping and are taken from BR1, BR2, BR3 and CTB1 forms, as reported by the local authorities.

Disabled Access

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of his Department's buildings are accessible to disabled people.

Jim Fitzpatrick: 88 percent. of the buildings occupied by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are accessible for disabled people. This represents 15 out of 17 buildings.
	The two buildings, both of which are inaccessible to people with ambulatory difficulties, are a small office in Glossop, which is situated on the first floor above a high street bank, and a small office facility adjacent to the main storage hangers at Marchington. The former is nearing the end of its lease.
	This answer does not include the buildings occupied by Government Offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Empty Properties (Suffolk)

David Ruffley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many empty properties there have been in each local authority area in Suffolk for each of the last four years.

Yvette Cooper: The available information on empty homes in each local authority area in Suffolk is given in the following table. This comes from a combination of data supplied by local authorities on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's (ODPM's) housing strategy statistical appendix return and the housing corporation's regulatory and statistical return.
	
		Total vacant dwellings at 1 April by local authority area in Suffolk, 2001–04
		
			 Local Authority name 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Babergh 658 534 1,018 963 
			 Forest Heath 603 603 455 393 
			 Ipswich 1,827 1,754 1,584 1,752 
			 Mid Suffolk 1,475 1,470 1,464 1,622 
			 St. Edmundsbury 1,057 1,016 1,019 610 
			 Suffolk Coastal 2,343 2,060 1,859 1,495 
			 Waveney 1,401 2,265 3,450 1,520 
			 Suffolk 9,364 9,702 10,849 8,355 
		
	
	Sources:
	ODPM's annual housing strategy statistical appendix (HSSA) returns and the housing corporation's annual regulatory and statistical return (RSR).

Energy Efficiency

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what targets he has set for improving energy efficiency; and how he intends to achieve these targets.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has adopted the energy targets as set out in the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. These include to reduce energy consumption by 15 per cent. by 2010–11 over the 1999–2000 baseline (as measured by fuel/electricity used per m 2 .)
	Projects are under way to increase energy efficiency and achieve the targets. These include working in partnership with The Carbon Trust, who are undertaking energy audits in the Office's HQ buildings. The results of these audits have been included in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which outlines short, medium and long-terms projects to be implemented in order to achieve the required energy targets. These actions were agreed with the ODPM Management Board earlier this year.
	These actions are included within the certificated and independently audited ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has developed to manage our response to the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate".

Equality and Diversity

David Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much the Department has spent promoting equality and diversity in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jim Fitzpatrick: ODPM is fully committed to promoting equality and diversity within all policy areas in support of the Government's commitment to a diverse and integrated society. It has a number of policies and processes in place to ensure that there is no unfair discrimination on any grounds. Equality and diversity lie at the heart of creating sustainable communities and the Office seeks to embed these principles into all of its activities.
	It should be noted that ODPM was created in May 2002 therefore data is not available before this date. The figures supplied are for staff and project costs identified within ODPM's equality and diversity unit (EDU) and equality and diversity-related costs within the Department's neighbourhood renewal unit (NRU).
	
		
			  Total 
		
		
			 2002–03 462,000 
			 2003–04 921,000 
			 2004–5 951,000 
			 2005–06 (forecast) 1,105,000

Fire Service

Michael Clapham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the fire and rescue services building control performance handbook will next be updated; and what key performance indicators he plans to include.

Jim Fitzpatrick: We are carrying out a consultation of a revision of the "Building Regulations and Fire Safety Procedural Guidance", a document which sets out protocols for the communication of fire safety information and views between building control bodies, fire and rescue services and applicants for building regulatory approval.
	The revision is necessary to reflect the proposed changes to fire safety law that will be brought about by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. We will review the responses to that consultation when the consultation closes in mid-November and expect to finish the revised document in the spring of next year.
	We have also developed, in parallel, in consultation with stakeholders including the chief fire officers' association (CFOA), key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the overall performance of building control bodies. We have liaised with CFOA about the inclusion of a specific KPI on building control bodies' consultation of fire and rescue services in order to measure the perceptions of the fire and rescue services of the value provided by consultation with building control bodies.
	It is hoped that the KPIs can be launched on the ODPM website later this year, and included on the Audit Commission's library of local performance indicators website.

Fire Service

Susan Kramer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people have been employed in the fire services in England since 2000, broken down by (a) ethnicity and (b) gender; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of successful applicants for employment in fire and rescue services in England in each year since 2000, broken down by ethnicity and gender, is set out in the tables.
	
		Gender and ethnicity of successful applicants to the Fire and Rescue Service
		
			  2000–01 
		
		
			 Gender  
			 Male 3,017 
			 Female 853 
			 Total 3,870 
			   
			 Ethnicity  
			 White 3,728 
			 Black Caribbean 38 
			 Black African 12 
			 Black other 25 
			 Indian 11 
			 Pakistani 6 
			 Bangladeshi 2 
			 Chinese 3 
			 Other Asian 4 
			 Other 33 
			 Total(131)(132)(133) 3,862 
		
	
	(131) Nottingham had 4 male successful applicants whose ethnicity was not stated.
	(132) Hereford and Worcester two male and one female successful applicants whose ethnicity was not stated.
	(133) Cambridgeshire had 1 successful applicant whose ethnicity was not stated.
	Source:
	ODPM Annual returns.
	
		Gender and ethnicity of successful applicants to the Fire and Rescue Service
		
			  2001–02(134) 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Gender
			 Male 3,004 2,992 3,007 
			 Female 970 970 1,270 
			 Total 3,974 3,962 4,277 
			 
			 Ethnicity
			 White(135)
			 British 3,172 3,615 3,733 
			 Irish 6 9 20 
			 Other white 114 23 67 
			 Mixed
			 White and black Caribbean 4 8 18 
			 White and black African 1 1 3 
			 White and Asian 4 6 7 
			 Other mixed 3 11 13 
			 
			 Asian or Asian British
			 Indian 14 22 40 
			 Pakistani 7 8 12 
			 Bangladeshi 0 0 3 
			 Other Asian 5 10 10 
			 
			 Black or black British
			 Caribbean 29 46 44 
			 African 7 22 51 
			 Other black 12 9 7 
			 
			 Chinese or other not stated
			 Chinese 6 9 4 
			 Other 12 11 49 
			 Total 3,484 3,962 4,277 
		
	
	(134) Ethnicity figures for 2001–02 exclude London who had not adopted the 16+1 breakdown for that year.
	In 2001–02, London had 451 successful applicants (373 white, 72 minority ethnic, six not stated).
	(135) Northamptonshire was unable to provide a detailed breakdown of the 'white' category. In 2001–02, Northamptonshire had 39 successful applicants who were classified as 'white'.
	Source:
	ODPM Annual returns.
	In the period 31 March 2000 to 31 March 2004, the number of women employed by Fire and Rescue Services in England increased by 1,338. In the same period, the number of personnel who classified themselves as belonging to one of the minority ethnic groups increased by 468.

Government Offices for the Regions

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) expenditure and (b) administration costs of each Government office for the regions were in each year since their creation; and what the estimated figure for 2005–06 is.

Yvette Cooper: (a) The administrative running cost expenditure for each Government office for the period since their creation is detailed in the table. The table includes the current allocation for the present financial year, 2005–06.
	(b) Programme budgets administered by the Government offices are the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for the relevant sponsor Departments. Information is however contained in GO Annual Reports, as given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar on 17 November 2004, Official Report, column 1463W.
	
		Government office administrative running costs £000
		
			 GO 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 
		
		
			 North East 9,173.60 8,842.76 8,687.15 8,616.75 
			  
			 North West 11,593.30 9,983.71 9,839.09 9,442.59 
			 Merseyside 4,834.10 4,753.84 4,349.95 4,199.53 
			 Total North West/  Merseyside 16,427.40 14,737.55 14,189.04 13,642.12 
			  
			 Yorks and Humber 9,809.90 9,060.51 8,765.04 8,475.01 
			  
			 West Midlands 11,057.50 10,435.73 10,040.37 9,757.79 
			  
			 East Midlands 7,658.80 7,116.85 6,616.67 6,436.24 
			  
			 East 6,231.50 6,122.84 6,168.97 6,270.62 
			  
			 South West 6,741.10 7,574.14 7,140.74 6,825.73 
			  
			 South East 8,224.00 8,331.06 8,406.18 8,544.99 
			  
			 London 12,251.20 11,106.26 14,106.47 13,458.82 
			  
			 Total 87,575.00 83,327.70 84,120.63 82,028.07 
		
	
	
		
			 £000 
			 GO 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 North East 8,618.84 8,312.05 8,197.33 9,002.29 
			  
			 North West 13,690.13 13,048.58 13,651.03 15,344.87 
			 Merseyside 12.24 — — — 
			 Total North West/  Merseyside 13,702.37 13,048.58 13,651.03 15,344.87 
			  
			 Yorks and Humber 8,683.92 8,888.68 9,357.48 10,036.85 
			  
			 West Midlands 9,474.35 9,330.15 9,960.76 10,295.51 
			  
			 East Midlands 6,754.39 6,951.28 7,335.77 8,244.80 
			  
			 East 6,269.43 7,005.47 7,542.48 8,631.95 
			  
			 South West 6,985.03 7,796.87 8,711.38 10,666.90 
			  
			 South East 8,561.40 8,658.61 9,477.26 10,326.44 
			  
			 London 13,238.12 13,715.79 13,860.98 13,161.20 
			  
			 Total 82,287.85 83,707.48 88,094.47 95,710.81 
		
	
	
		
			 £000 
			 GO 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06(136) 
		
		
			 North East 9,954.46 12,164.59 13,811.21 12,837.67 
			  
			 North West 15,523.52 16,744.59 17,566.17 18,067.27 
			 Merseyside — — — — 
			 Total North West/  Merseyside 15,523.52 16,744.59 17,566.17 18,067.27 
			  
			 Yorks and Humber 10,943.77 12,344.06 13,423.28 13,471.53 
			  
			 West Midlands 10,662.85 13,378.54 14,957.47 14,534.15 
			  
			 East Midlands 8,713.24 10,955.39 11,698.82 12,940.12 
			  
			 East 9,355.85 12,607.17 14,223.78 13,365.66 
			  
			 South West 11,860.77 13,858.05 14,499.94 14,807.03 
			  
			 South East 10,874.74 14,105.96 14,300.26 14,987.40 
			  
			 London 14,038.84 16,649.56 18,793.48 18,248.20 
			  
			 Total 101,928.04 122,807.89 133,274.41 133,259.03 
		
	
	(136) Allocations for 2005–06.
	Note:
	GO-North West and GO-Merseyside merged during 1998–99.

Green Belt

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to prevent speculative sales of green belt land.

Yvette Cooper: Green belt is a planning designation and the planning system does not control the sale of land. Planning applications would still need to be submitted for the development of green belt land. Such applications would need to be considered in light of the development plan for the area concerned and other material considerations, including national policy on green belts as set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 (PPG2). There are no plans to prevent sales of green belt land.

Green Ministers

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the meetings at which his Department has been present regarding the delivery of sustainable development across Government as co-ordinated by the Ministerial Sub-committee of Green Ministers.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Although the Government publishes the title, membership and terms of reference of cabinet committees, it has been the practice of successive Governments not to disclose details of their proceedings.

Housing

Susan Kramer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average monthly rent for (a) a room in a shared house, (b) a one bedroom dwelling, (c) a two bedroom dwelling and (d) a three bedroom dwelling in each London borough was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: Information on private sector rents is only collected on a sample basis and is not available for London boroughs. Social rents for local authority housing and registered social landlord housing are given in the attached spreadsheet in the form of average weekly rent excluding service charges. Information on shared accommodation is not available and bedsits have been excluded.
	
		Latest average weekly rent for social dwellings £
		
			  Local authority Registered social landlord 
			  April 2003 April 2004 
			  Number of bedrooms in dwelling 
			 London Borough 1 2 3 1 2 3 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 56.10 58.78 59.92 54.22 69.81 76.43 
			 Barnet 52.69 62.29 70.63 62.12 74.57 87.40 
			 Bexley no stock no stock no stock 45.31 65.84 88.64 
			 Brent 60.91 69.73 81.16 62.18 72.36 83.32 
			 Bromley no stock no stock no stock 57.56 71.57 82.35 
			 Camden 61.62 71.08 80.42 65.47 76.89 87.65 
			 City of London 62.71 69.73 75.38 63.14 67.21 79.69 
			 Croydon 57.63 65.54 79.95 60.08 75.31 87.58 
			 Ealing 57.48 64.05 72.64 62.01 73.56 86.65 
			 Enfield 56.28 66.19 72.61 59.19 71.67 84.16 
			 Greenwich 56.56 60.89 69.86 60.72 70.64 80.05 
			 Hackney 53.37 56.70 63.81 58.91 65.49 75.42 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 57.74 65.01 74.00 60.50 70.62 79.59 
			 Haringey 51.02 60.18 71.23 58.21 69.75 81.33 
			 Harrow 66.56 74.34 87.50 60.54 69.77 83.71 
			 Havering 44.53 53.66 64.18 58.26 69.39 86.98 
			 Hillingdon 62.93 74.07 87.68 60.28 76.35 86.07 
			 Hounslow 52.32 62.30 72.89 61.66 73.63 82.24 
			 Islington 57.36 67.74 75.62 60.33 69.01 77.54 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 63.84 83.19 91.14 59.53 68.49 78.33 
			 Kingston upon Thames 60.52 67.20 79.00 62.88 76.63 87.30 
			 Lambeth 55.88 62.82 73.67 57.42 65.57 75.53 
			 Lewisham 50.97 58.52 66.36 56.68 66.61 78.86 
			 Merton 50.42 60.62 69.36 58.85 73.02 83.41 
			 Newham 49.56 59.37 69.84 60.02 72.22 81.01 
			 Redbridge 64.53 73.21 80.07 64.42 75.03 90.10 
			 Richmond upon Thames no stock no stock no stock 64.98 72.31 76.24 
			 Southwark 55.72 59.03 63.67 57.90 68.36 78.91 
			 Sutton n/a n/a n/a 58.93 73.56 85.30 
			 Tower Hamlets 57.50 70.42 80.99 59.69 67.88 78.30 
			 Waltham Forest 50.93 70.31 86.36 57.14 69.82 83.75 
			 Wandsworth 52.51 76.45 92.35 64.19 74.98 86.35 
			 Westminster 72.95 86.76 100.19 65.33 77.62 84.62 
		
	
	n/a = not available
	Sources:
	Local authority rents from the ODPM Second Advance Claim Form
	Registered social Landlord rents from the Regulatory Statistical Return of the Housing Corporation

IT Failures

Michael Meacher: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what computerisation or IT failures have occurred in public sector projects managed by his Department in each year since 1997; what the contracted cost of the project was in each case; and what estimate he has made of the direct and indirect costs of failure or breakdown in each case.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed on 29 May 2002. Records for IT projects below £90,000 are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	There have been no failures of IT projects above that threshold recorded since the creation of the Office. Like many public bodies the ODPM uses recognized project management methods, such as prince2 and the gateway process promoted by the Office of Government Commerce, to ensure that projects are successful. In addition the ODPM created a project and programme management (PPM) team in February 2004 to support the embedding of project and programme management skills in the ODPM.

Local Government Finance

Nick Gibb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what wage data and calculations the area cost adjustments are based.

Phil Woolas: The area cost adjustment (ACA) is the element of the funding formula that reflects variation in the cost of service delivery between local authorities. It has two components. The labour cost adjustment is the largest component and takes account of variation in local authority pay costs. The rates cost adjustment is a much smaller and accounts for variations in business rates costs. In 2005–06 it was calculated using the following data:
	New earnings survey data from 2001, 2002 and 2003;
	Base estimate returns 1992–93;
	Rateable values and hereditaments at 1 August 2004;
	Estimates of office hereditaments and floorspace 2003;
	The 2005 revaluation of local authority schools undertaken by the valuation office;
	Gross non-domestic rates and increases and reductions in rate yields, as supplied by authorities to the First Secretary of State on the national non-domestic rates provisional contributions return 2004–05, and the total resident population as at 30 June 2003.
	Detailed information on the calculation of the ACA is available on the ODPM website at:
	http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0506/acamethQ56s.pdf
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently consulting on options to change the local government funding formula, including options for changing the ACA calculation. The consultation document is available at on the ODPM website at:
	http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0607/consult/index.htm
	The consultation ends on 10 October 2005.

Local Government Finance

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much in (a) revenue support grant and (b) specific grants in (i) cash and (ii) real terms has been provided to the City of York in each year since 1997–98.

Phil Woolas: The amounts of (a) revenue support grant and (b) specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) City of York has received in cash and real terms each year since 1997–98 are shown respectively in Table A and Table B.
	
		Table A: Revenue support grant in cash and real terms provided to the City of York in each year since 1997–98 £000
		
			  Cash Real terms (2004–05 prices) 
		
		
			 1997–98 38,597 45,338 
			 1998–99 39,274 44,966 
			 1999–2000 39,478 44,328 
			 2000–01 36,900 40,898 
			 2001–02 40,309 43,599 
			 2002–03 35,890 37,624 
			 2003–04 45,361 46,325 
			 2004–05 51,761 51,761 
		
	
	Source:
	ODPM Revenue Outturn (RO) data, ONS GDP deflators
	
		Table B: Specific grant inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) in cash and real terms provided to the City of York in each year since 1997–98 £000
		
			  Cash Real terms (2004–05 prices) 
		
		
			 1997–98 3,128 3,674 
			 1998–99 4,113 4,709 
			 1999–2000 6,185 6,945 
			 2000–01 10,977 12,166 
			 2001–02 15,044 16,272 
			 2002–03 21,172 22,195 
			 2003–04 31,192 31,855 
			 2004–05 31,743 31,743 
		
	
	Source:
	ODPM Revenue Outturn (RO) data, ONS GDP deflators
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. Additionally, revenue support grant can go up or down from one year to the next as a result of decreases and increases in the amount of redistributed business rates received by the authority.
	Specific grants inside AEF are those revenue grants paid for councils' core services (such as waste collection), excluding funding for local authorities' housing management.
	The real terms figures have been revalued for previous years at 2004–05 prices using the latest GDP deflators.

Local Government Finance

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding local authorities in England received from central Government during the last financial year for which figures are available.

Phil Woolas: In 2004–05 local government received £60,357 million of central Government funding.
	Notes:
	Central Government funding is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside Aggregate external finance (AEF), formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant) and Greater London authority (GLA) grant.
	Source:
	"Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: Provisional outturn 2004–05" found at: http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/fmance/stats/natstats.htmrev

Local Government Pensions

David Ruffley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the surplus or deficit was of the local government pension scheme for (a) Suffolk county council and (b) each local authority area within Suffolk in each of the last eight years.

Phil Woolas: The Local Government Pension Scheme in England is administered by 81 separate pension fund authorities. The Suffolk County Council Pension Fund is the responsibility of the county council; district councils are employer-members. Actuarial valuations of the pension fond take place every three years, as required by the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997. Contribution rates for each employer are set having regard to the employers' liabilities and the investment programme of the fond. The rates are designed to ensure that Scheme pension funds remain solvent and meet their statutory pension payment responsibilities. Individual local authorities in Suffolk, other than the county council, do not have separate pension funds. The assets and liabilities for the Suffolk county council pension fond for the last three actuarial valuation exercises are as follows:
	
		Suffolk CC pension fund
		
			  Assets (£ million) Liabilities (£ million) Solvency (Percentage) 
		
		
			 1998 517.9 626.3 81 
			 2001 702.0 835.0 84 
			 2004 775.8 l,035.9 75

Paper

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of (a) copying paper and (b) paper for printed publications used by his Department in (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05 was from recycled sources; and how much post-consumer waste this paper contained in each case.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The paper used by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for (a) copying paper in 2003–04 and 2004–05 contained 100 per cent. post-consumer waste.
	The paper used for (b) printed publications between 2003–04 and 2004–05 contained no less than 75 per cent. post-consumer waste.

Regeneration (Wolverhampton)

Patrick McFadden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been spent by his Department on regeneration projects in (a) the City of Wolverhampton and (b) constituency of Wolverhampton South East since 1997.

Yvette Cooper: Under the neighbourhood renewal fund, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has provided funding totalling £37.1 million between 2001–02 and 2007–08 to tackle disadvantage in deprived neighbourhoods in Wolverhampton.
	English Partnerships is the national regeneration agency sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. English Partnership's expenditure in Wolverhampton in recent years has been in connection with Priority Sites Ltd, EP's commercial development joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Priority Sites expenditure began in 2002 and currently stands at £591,000. Under the former PIP (property investment programme), £2.6 million was spent between 1997 and 2001. English Partnerships provided a further £991,000 to Advantage West Midlands for land reclamation programme projects between 1997 and 2000. This makes EP's total spend in the city of Wolverhampton between 1997 to 2005 £4.2 million.
	A farther £628,225 in grants has been provided to Wolverhampton from 2001 to date as part of the neighbourhood and street crime warden schemes, both funded by ODPM.
	In addition, the Government awarded £53.5 million to the Wolverhampton new deal for communities partnership in 2001 under Round 2 of the Government's new deal for communities programme. The Partnership is now in year five of the 10-year programme and to date has spent approximately £10.3 million of the approved grant.
	Wolverhampton has also benefited from Objective 2 European regional development funds and since 1997 over £27.2 million has been spent directly in the city of Wolverhampton area.

Regional Assemblies

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the role of the West Midlands Regional Assembly is with regards to waste and incineration policy.

Yvette Cooper: As the regional planning body, the West Midlands Regional Assembly is responsible for keeping its regional spatial strategy (RSS) under review and preparing revisions. The RSS should include a concise strategy for waste management in line with national policy set out in Planning Policy Statement 10 "Planning for Sustainable Waste Management" and be capable of being carried forward into local development documents prepared by waste planning authorities. The strategy for waste management should comprise a distribution of waste tonnage requiring management, a pattern of waste management facilities of national, regional or sub-regional significance, and supporting policies.

Section 106 Planning Agreements

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what information he has received on the operation of section 106 planning agreements in London in respect of local authorities receiving payments in lieu of housing developments; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: Information on individual section 106 agreements is held by local planning authorities and not collated centrally.
	The research report "The Value for Money of Delivering Affordable Housing through Section 106" published on 18 July (available on the ODPM website at: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_ planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_039124.hcsp) shows that in 2002–03 just over £11 million was received by local planning authorities in London in commuted sums to provide affordable housing off-site, in lieu of on-site provision.

Sickness Absence

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many working days were lost due to sickness absence in his Department in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002. The number of days lost due to sickness are contained in the annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service" published by the Cabinet Office. Table A of the report gives details of both the average working days absence per staff year and the number of staff years on which that calculation is based on. The most recent of which (for calendar year 2003) was announced by ministerial statement on 1 November and copies placed in the Libraries of the House. Reports for 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 are also available in the Library of the House and on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_of_the_ civil_service/conditions_of_service/occupational_health/publications/index.asp
	The Office of The Deputy Prime Minister is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and is putting in place the recommendations of recently published report "Managing Sickness Absence in the Public Sector".

Social Housing

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many dwellings have been built (a) by local authorities, (b) by housing associations and (c) in total in each year since 1990, broken down by number of bedrooms.

Yvette Cooper: Housing statistics table no. 204 published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's internet site shows the number of dwellings built in England by tenure for each year since 1990–91. Table 251 shows the percentages of dwellings built with different numbers of bedrooms.
	The respective ODPM internet addresses for these tables are:
	http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/page/odpm_house_604034.xls
	[Housing—Housing Statistics—Live Tables—Housebuilding—Table 204]
	http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/page/odpm_house_604058.xls
	[Housing—Housing Statistics—Live Tables—Housebuilding—Table 251]

Social Housing

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much money has been allocated to improving heating and insulation standards in social housing in each year since 2000, broken down by expenditure incurred by (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords; and what these figures are as a percentage of all social landlord expenditure on remedial work to the housing stock.

Yvette Cooper: Data is only available for local authorities set out in the following table. The figures show what local authorities have spent/plan to spend on improving heating and insulation.
	Over the period shown in the table, this represents 16 per cent. of all expenditure on remedial works.
	
		
			  £000 
			  Financial year Total LA expenditure on central heating and insulation 
		
		
			 1999–2000 246,725 
			 2000–01 283,033 
			 2001–02 318,559 
			 2002–03 333,034 
			 2003–04 385,548 
			 2004–05 405,352

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the annual spending by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies on (i) electricity use and (ii) water and sewerage services has been in each year since 2002–03.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The costs of electricity and water and sewerage services for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and its Agencies since 2002–03 are as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			  (a) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (excluding Government Offices)(b) Agencies 
		
		
			 Electricity 2002–03 369,009 562,590 
			 Electricity 2003–04 450,239 782,454 
			 Electricity 2004–05 526,517 715,145 
			 Water and sewerage 2002–03 (137)28,589 106,883 
			 Water and sewerage 2003–04 (137)32,034 120,758 
			 Water and sewerage 2004–05 (137)18,485 98,338 
		
	
	(137) Not including Hempstead House, where cost is included within the service charge.
	The figures for 2004–05 have yet to be independently verified by DEFRA and therefore should be considered as provisional.
	This answer does not include the buildings occupied by Government Offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what change there has been in road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions from his Department against a baseline year of (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05;
	(2)  what reduction there has been in road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions from his Department against a baseline year of (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not available. CO 2 emissions cannot presently be calculated, as much of the mileage is by hire and private car and existing travel claim systems do not record the size of the vehicle engine.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently assessing methods and systems to record the required information in order to meet our framework for sustainable development target—Bl: To reduce road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions by at least 10 percent., to be achieved through any combination of:
	(a) reducing total business vehicle mileage;
	(b) improving the average fuel efficiency of vehicles;
	(c) reducing total fuel consumed.
	This answer does not include data from Government Offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to assist the delivery of sustainable development within Government;
	(2)  what progress has been made on his Department's Sustainable Development Strategy;
	(3)  what steps have been taken by his Department to review its arrangements for public reporting of its sustainable development impacts.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister played a full part in preparing the UK Sustainable Development Strategy "Securing the Future", which was launched in March 2005. We will be producing a Sustainable Development Action Plan in December 2005, which will set out the steps we are taking to contribute to the delivery of the strategy, including arrangements for monitoring progress.
	The Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate is the Government's main vehicle for systematically assessing, reporting and improving Government performance in managing its own land and buildings sustainably. The ODPM will be publishing its first Sustainable Operations Report covering its work and results on delivering the targets contained within the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate before the end of the year. This will also build on the data reported annually in the Sustainable Development in Government Report.

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies came from renewable sources for each year since 2003–04.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Since 2003–04 the total proportion of renewable electricity used by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in its buildings in the (a) the Office and (b) its agencies each year is as follows:
	
		Percentage
		
			  (a) Office(138) (b) Agencies 
		
		
			 2003–04 98 29 
			 2004–05(139) 98 46 
		
	
	(138) Not including Government Offices.
	(139) The figures for 2004–05 have yet to undergo independent verification and so must be regarded as provisional.
	This answer does not include the buildings occupied by Government Offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what reduction there has been in water consumption by his Department between 2002 and 31 March 2005.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The reduction in water consumption within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's estate between 2002 to 31 March 2005 is as follows:
	
		Sustainable development—reduction in water consumption
		
			  Consumption (m 2 ) Reduction (m 2 ) Percentage reduction (year on year) 
		
		
			 2002–03 161,096. — — 
			 2003–04 141,532 19,564 12.14 
			 2004–05 132,787 8,745 6.18 
		
	
	Note:
	These figures do not include water used for training purposes at the Fire Service College.
	This answer does not include the buildings occupied by Government offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.
	These reductions are assisting ODPM in achieving the Sustainable Development in Government water target (C2) of 7.7m 3 /person/annum.

Sustainable Development

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister at which non-office sites on his Department's estates he has identified opportunities for significant water savings.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has previously identified the following non-office sites as being likely to provide opportunities for significant water savings:
	The Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire.
	The Queen Elizabeth the Second Conference Centre, London.
	Since 2002–03 the Fire Service college's non-training water usage has reduced by 29 per cent. Water usage in the QEII Conference Centre has reduced by 4 per cent. in the same period, which is a significant reduction on a year ago when it had increased by 13 per cent. The water consumption in both establishments has decreased despite the increased business use of the establishments.
	Initiatives are planed to further reduce consumption although savings are unlikely to be as significant as those achieved to date.
	Since November 2002, DEFRA has monitored Departments' performance against the framework targets in the annual 'Sustainable Development in Government' reports (http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/reports/index.htm).

Telephone Enquiries

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what facilities his Department has to deal with telephone enquiries in (a) Welsh, (b) Scots Gaelic and (c) Irish Gaelic.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no formal requirement for its switchboard staff to be able to converse with callers in any language other than English. However, Welsh is spoken, amongst other languages, by a member of the switchboard team. This is in line with the ODPM Welsh language scheme. There is no provision for Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic currently amongst switchboard staff.
	The ODPM has a contract in place for interpretation and translation services and should the need arise regularly this contract could be used to provide support to particular ODPM staff in their handling of calls, or the requirement could be added to the contract for switchboard services.

Timber

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the refurbishment projects in his Department that (a) are in progress and (b) will start in the next six months; what action is being taken to ensure that timber for these projects is procured from legal and sustainable sources; and whether guidance will be issued to contractors on each of these projects to ensure that the timber used on site during refurbishment also comes from legal and sustainable sources.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister presently has the following refurbishment projects:
	
		
			  Project 
		
		
			 (a) In progress  
			 (i) In the office Eland House, London—space planning/reorganisation project on the fifth, eighth and ninth floors. 
			  Allington Towers, London—space planning and DDA works 
			  Burlington House, London—External repairs to a Grade 2* listed building 
			  London HQ buildings—Disability access works 
			  London HQ buildings—Replacement of fire alarm systems 
			 (ii) In each agency of the office QEII Conference Centre, London—Replacement of air handling units 
			   
			 (b) Will start in the next six months  
			 (i) In the office Eland House, London—space planning/reorganisation project, (subject to funding) 
			 (ii) In each agency of the office None 
		
	
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has defined refurbishment projects to be upgrading and efficiency projects exceeding £100,000.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its agencies are committed to the Government Policy on the purchase of Legal and Sustainable forested wood and this is fully supported in our Greening Operations Policy Statement.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has reviewed its procurement terms and conditions in line with recent guidance concerning environmental and sustainability issues and is providing awareness and training for staff. Contracts where the use of timber and timber based products is anticipated, contain clauses that require the supplier to actively seek legally sourced and sustainable timber and to supply physical evidence that supports this.
	Procurement of timber and timber based products has been included within the certificated and independently audited ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has developed to manage our response to the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate".
	This answer does not include the buildings occupied by Government offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Timber

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to fund the maintenance of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs on 10 October 2005 (15728).